The Bauble
by patnkatz
Summary: Placed a year after Trouser Travails, Harlock is still having Trouser issues, and now Tochiro has caught the disease. Two sneaky alien females, one multi-armed barkeep and a bounty hunter named Diesel create more headaches for our favorite Captain.
1. Chapter 1

**The Bauble**

_"Only real friends tell you when your face is dirty"_

_Sicilian Proverb_

Harlock clenched his hands at his side as he covered his "six," while he marched resolutely down the main street of the single large town on Gun Frontier. His wrist com bleeped at him again and he gritted his teeth. Tochiro had gotten himself into some situation again and he was going to have to drag the brilliant engineer out of whatever nonsense he'd gotten himself into.

He furrowed his brows; more than likely, it involved someone of the feminine persuasion given Tochiro's love of the ladies. While he was happily married to Emeraldas, that didn't seem to stop him from window shopping, now and again. Harlock sighed to himself. Generally, whenever Tochiro got into more trouble than he could handle, Harlock had to deck someone, or worse. Fine. He was currently in a foul enough mood to do just that; hopefully it wouldn't involve the lady herself. He hated that.

Harlock was armed to his teeth and in full pirate attire. He wanted no one to miss who he was, nor that he was on a mission. Nor that he was a dangerous man to waylay. His spurs jangled as he all but stomped down the dirt street with a grim, narrow-eyed look about him. He was not pleased and this was evident from his thunderous expression. Everyone in his path scurried out of his way, noting the widely notorious, fully armed pirate striding down their main street, bold as brass. As he passed by, they clumped together in small groups, wondering what could have brought him down off of the Arcadia and what in heaven had him in such a dudgeon.

Whatever it was, each of them was glad that they weren't on the receiving end of his obvious ire.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harlock reached the swinging doors of the best saloon of Gun Frontier. To the left of the doorway, he noted an outdated poster with his face, price for capture or death, and who was to pay the reward. He snorted. Anyone trying to cash in on that one would be disappointed for certain. The Illumidas were no longer relevant, nor likely to be able to give a bounty hunter six million credits. Others might be able to do that, but certainly not the Illumidas.

He ripped the poster off of the wall, enjoying the sound of the tearing paper. He balled it up, and lobbed it toward the only, very beaten up trashcan in the street. It made it into the can. Two points, he thought, distractedly.

As he pushed open the saloon doors, everything inside of the saloon stopped. It was as if he had pointed and fired a stasis gun at everyone. He stared back at them with his narrowed eye(s). They all dropped their gazes, not wanting to challenge Harlock, especially when he held the commanding position at the door. Having their gazes averted did not mean that they were not acutely interested or not seeing what he did next. The tensions in the saloon heightened considerably.

Harlock strode up to the bar, the noise of his spurs being the only sound in the room as everyone studiously ignored him. He noted the positions and weaponry of all beings in the room. Without even thinking about it, he calculated trajectories, shielding areas, and firing pathways if such became necessary. It was a well defined survival instinct in him by this point and he barely gave conscious thought to the planning.

He knew some of the life forms he saw, however there were others he did not know at all. That did not bother him in the slightest. What did bother him was the table where his best friend, Tochiro Oyama, was seated, also held two very beautiful dark-haired women who looked alien, but somehow vaguely familiar. They were obviously sisters, given the strong family resemblance.

While mulling this over in his mind, he clinically noted - with some amusement - the reason for Tochiro's panicked call to him. His best friend was sitting in a chair, nursing his Brandy, and apparently losing more than just his shirt to the two ladies who were hustling him. Tochiro held a hand of cards and Harlock could tell even at this distance that his friend was losing quite badly. It was not rocket science, for Tochiro had on his boxers and nothing else other than his large pancake shaped brown travelling hat.

"Barkeep, get me a Brandy." Harlock stated in his best subterranean growl.

Behind the counter, a large multi-armed alien silently poured his brandy and slid it down to him on the bar counter. It stopped precisely in front of him. Good shot, Harlock thought. He picked up the glass and saluted the bartender with it and walked with measured tread over to Tochiro's table. He picked up a chair from another table and placed it so that he could see the door, the window and everyone else in the saloon. He held each of their gazes for a brief moment so that they would know he was aware of each of them. He sat down and plunked his glass down on the table firmly.

The two ladies looked up from their cards and assessed him frankly and quite thoroughly from head to foot. He returned stare for stare and assessed them in return. He had to admit that they were indeed lovely to look at. However, beautiful is, isn't necessarily beautiful does, he reminded himself.

Two almost identical faces, pale white skin with a slight golden cast to it, raven dark locks down to their rather shapely bottoms. Long legs with delicate ankles, and long hands with delicate long fingers. Both of them had eyes the color of a Caribbean sky, with golden flecks in the iris, guarded by long dark lashes.

Truly lovely, he thought somewhat dispassionately, it was no wonder Tochiro had gotten caught in their little web. "Deal," He commanded them.

As the one sister dealt him five cards, he watched her tightly as she did so. She hadn't cheated that he could tell. Okay. He then looked at his cards in best non-reactive mode. Interesting. Without reaction he calmly asked the stakes. They told him. He looked at them to see if they were using anything that would denote cheating. Again, not that he could tell. They were either really, really good, or they had Tochiro entirely hoodwinked.

He then allowed himself to look over at Tochiro, who was obviously shivering in the cool room. Harlock showed absolutely no expression, although if one looked closely, you would have seen a slight gleam in his eye(s).

Or, he thought, perhaps Tochiro, the best engineer Earth had ever produced, was simply the worst poker player ever. Whatever. He couldn't allow his best friend to return to the Arcadia in such a state. News of that would definitely reach Emeraldas's ears, he mused, and that might not bode so well for his friend. So, he needed to rescue both his friend and his friend's dignity.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out several items for bargaining. He put out a miniature device for bugging an area, a small explosive device, and a very advanced data crystal Tochiro had designed and given him, which he had since forgotten about. He put them all in the center of the table. He watched the reactions of the others as he sat back without exchanging any cards. He knocked on the table.

Tochiro looked at him in astonishment, for some of the items now on the table were items he had made and were well beyond the capacity of anything else currently known. It was an expensive pot. Tochiro bravely placed his well worn hat in the center after exchanging three cards. He sincerely hoped Harlock wasn't bluffing.

The ladies looked at Tochiro and then at Harlock. One of the ladies placed Tochiro's clothing and trade goods on the table and looked at Harlock after she traded two cards.

He responded by placing his Cosmo Dragoon on the table. In the entire house a collective gasp rose from the others nearby in the room. Harlock was wagering his own signature weapon!

The other lady smirked and placed a large sum of universal credits and techno-jewels in the center after exchanging one card. She looked at Tochiro, who quietly folded his hand and looked at Harlock in a mute plea.

She then looked at Harlock, who stood to his full height and calmly removed his Gravity Saber, raised it up high over the table, opened his hand, and let it crash onto the table in open defiance. He raised a brow back at her. "Raise." He said, while sitting back down. The entire room grew very tense. Harlock had seemingly given up all of his weapons and they were all waiting the outcome of this hand in true suspense.

She looked at him for a full two minutes and then reluctantly placed on the table a truly beautiful orb. It glistened iridescently in the light of the saloon. It swirled with the colors of the rainbow and many others as well, each morphing into the last. The woman looked at him again and noted his face which stated that he doubted the value of the Bauble.

"It has great value," she said.

His response was to raise his eyebrow again and say, "Call."

First one, then the other lady laid cards on the table.

The one had four eights.

The other had a full house, two fours and three nines.

Not bad, he thought. He calmly started to gather the things in the center of the table. The two women's eyes flashed dangerously. "Call!" They both said in unison.

With a half-smiled smirk, he laid out his cards one at a time for them to see. Royal Flush, Aces high, all in Spades. He sat back and looked at them, arms crossed, ostensibly unarmed. He cocked his head. Not that they would have known it, but his hands were well in position to retrieve his throwing daggers, did he need them.

They looked at each other, somewhat crestfallen. The lady who had laid out the beautiful bauble looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Take care of it." She said softly.

Harlock stood up, rearmed himself, and shoved Tochiro's clothes back at him. Tochiro gratefully pulled on his trousers, undershirt and shirt, his jacket and gloves. His round glasses and DataCom were returned to him, in addition to his Cosmo Dragoon and the trade goods he had been sent down to Gun Frontier with. Finally, he put on his geta sandals, along with his katana and sheath.

Feeling a bit more dignified, Tochiro leered at the two women with his toothy grin. "Can I buy you two a drink?" He asked cheekily, motioning to the money on the table.

Harlock wanted to head off any more contact with these two. "We need to return," he said to Tochiro. "There is much to be done." Harlock then turned to the two ladies. "He needs to be returned to his family; his wife and two children." He said firmly, letting them know there was absolutely no chance for them with the little engineer. Tochiro visibly wilted.

The two ladies smiled sadly and turned to leave. Harlock sighed; these were not locals and this would trap two beautiful penniless women on Gun Frontier. There would be but one alternative for them. Far be it for him to take everything they had, and force them into a trade that would degrade them both. It would not be gentlemanly to allow it.

Drat the knightly training that his Grandfather, Mother, Father, Sergeant Major Miles and Father Anselmii had all but pounded into him! "Protect and serve the defenseless in all circumstances." This tenet of Knighthood was primary in his thoughts, despite the fact that the two women had obviously marked Tochiro. He didn't need their money, he just wanted Tochiro back in one piece. He made a decision.

"Wait. Take these back," he said. He pushed the credits and the bauble back at the ladies as they turned back to face him. They quietly gathered the money, but left the little orb and the more valuable of the crystals. He then went around the table, scooped up the remaining items save one crystal, which he tossed over to the barkeep. The remainder, he strode over to the two women and grabbed one hand, deposited the orb in one and the crystals in her sister's hand. He nodded and then went back over to Tochiro.

He turned to watch them leave, noting that they did sway most enticingly. Quite lovely, both of them. The one on the right looked back over her shoulder at him and winked. His mouth grew a bit dry and he swallowed. He shook his head at himself; whatever was he thinking? He slowly shook his head no, while his body was screaming other things at him.

He looked over at Tochiro to distract himself and noticed with amusement that Tochiro was positively spellbound at the two women's retreating forms. Especially the lovely rears and softly swaying black hair. He had told Tochiro_, vocce sotto_, to stop gawking.

At that moment, the one thing happened that Harlock had been hoping would not happen.

A bounty hunter by the name of Diesel Jones burst through the doors and roughly pushed the two women back into the saloon, who then fell into the tables and then to the floor, while he raised his shoulder cannon against Harlock and Tochiro.

"Down on your knees, you pirates!" He thundered at them. The man was a veritable giant, huge, bulky and scarred. He was well positioned and well armed.

The entire room hit the floor on their knees, except for Harlock and Tochiro.

Both of them simultaneously went in opposite directions, pulling tables down in front of them and using them as shields. Not that mere wood could stop a blast from a shoulder cannon, but the confusion should help with not giving the hunter a clear direction in which to aim. They both hit the floor and rolled behind the bar and the coat-check, respectively.

Both had their Cosmo Dragoons out and were in position to fire at the bounty hunter when the one of the black-haired beauties made a mistake. She got up off of the floor and tried to run for the door in a panic. The bounty hunter slammed his arm against her throat and she fell to the floor like a dropped rock. As she did, the beautiful orb and the crystals fell from her bag, rolling around.

"Well," the bounty hunter said, "What have we here?" He kept his eye on where he presumed Harlock and Tochiro were hiding and crouched down next to the girl. She was unconscious at the moment. He touched her face and started to trace a line down her cheek to her body. With that, her sister sprang out of hiding and leaped onto the bounty hunter's back, straddling him and started to beat on his head.

"Don't touch her! You lousy oaf! Get your dirty paws off of my sister!" As she rode the back of the angry bounty hunter, demanding that he let her sister go, he in turn was attempting to remove the small furious burr stuck to his back, who was also pounding on his ears, which caused him great pain and general confusion. This in turn made him lose sight and sound of Harlock and Tochiro, along with the rest of the buccaneers.

The other pirates oozed out of the bar without so much as a backward glance. They left by window, the front and back doors and even up the steps and out through the upstairs windows. There was a lot of screaming going on both levels, creating further chaos. Harlock looked at the scene in total bemusement. He caught Tochiro's eye and they both grinned. A fight!

The bounty hunter was moving in circles, trying to avoid the blows on his ears by the smaller but very active and determined young lady on his back. The shoulder cannon was engaged, but not aimed and started to fire randomly around the room. The few left in the room, hit the floor again in order to try to make themselves not be unintentional targets. The cannon pulverized floor boards, walls and ceiling with no pattern.

Diesel wound up stepping on the orb, which threw him completely, still firing the cannon. He crashed heavily into the coatroom door opening , trapping Tochiro. The girl was thrown off of Diesel's back and onto Tochiro, who was bowled over and wound up on the bottom of the pile with the lovely girl draped over him gasping for air with heaving gasps, under the bulk of the huge bounty hunter, whose shoulder cannon was now making splinters out of the ceiling above.

Harlock, who was behind the bar with the barkeep, sprang up to get the shoulder cannon away from the idiot bounty hunter before he killed someone with it. He approached the pile somewhat cautiously, for if the bounty hunter got his senses back before Harlock disarmed him, he could be easily killed with that weapon. He came in low and fast, tackling the man under his arm, pinning the shoulder cannon into firing straight up. It blasted a huge hole in the ceiling above, resulting in more alarmed screaming from that room's occupants. Harlock then raised the butt end of his Cosmo Dragoon and bludgeoned the idiot into insensibility with a sharp rap to his skull.

The Barkeep heard the resulting "thunk" as Cosmo Dragoon met cranium from where he was hiding under the bar counter. He peered out to see Harlock lower the gun, while wrestling the shoulder cannon away from the now inert bounty hunter, disarm it entirely and drop the massive weapon to the floor. He saw Harlock lift up the large bounty hunter, who was at least twice Harlock's weight, off of the slight woman and Tochiro with a low grunt. Harlock staggered somewhat under the weight of the man, and then heaved him onto the nearest upright table. The table collapsed under the weight of the man.

Harlock stared at him for a moment to make sure he didn't move, and then turned his attention back to the smaller pile containing his engineer. The lady was still in Tochiro's arms, clothes all akimbo, and gasping for the now plentiful air. This had the effect of mesmerizing Tochiro with the heaving bosom in his face. He was in no hurry to dislodge himself. Harlock raised a brow and sighed.

"Come on Toch, let's get out of here." He said as he gave a hand to the disheveled young lady clinging to Tochiro. He helped her up and then assisted Tochiro up off of the floor. They then turned their attention to the sister. She was still out cold, but did have a pulse. She was breathing which was also good. She should awaken in time, however, this was not the best place to leave her to recover. Diesel was not likely to be happy with either sister when he awakened. And they had been helpful in distracting the bounty hunter from his targets.

Harlock swept off his cape, wrapped it around the unconscious woman, picked her up carefully and strode to the door. Tochiro assisted the other young lady in picking up their belongings. Harlock nodded to the barkeep as Tochiro lofted a few more crystals to him. The barkeep nodded back, caught the crystals and said, "Nice to see you, too, Kid; See you around Tochiro. "

Tochiro smiled and waved at the barkeep, while Harlock scowled at him. With a harrumph, he strode out of the saloon without another word; Tochiro, unconscious and conscious sisters in tow.

Tochiro scrambled to keep up with his Captain and asked, _Vocce Sotto_, what they were going to do with the young ladies. Harlock told him perfunctorily, "We're taking them to your mother." Tochiro stopped dead in the street with a stricken look on his face muttering, "My mother? She's here?" Harlock nodded and strode quickly out of town with his strange ensemble. No one did anything other than track their progress out of town. There were times he was glad for his notoriety; people tended to leave him alone.

They got to where he had the Space Wolf, cloaked into invisibility. Tochiro uncloaked it with his remote and they helped get the two women in the cramped quarters meant for two, which would now serve four.

Harlock laid the girl on her sister's lap and buckled them both in. The awake woman gave him a slightly watery smile. Tochiro sat on the bulkhead, while Harlock got into his pilot's seat. He closed the canopy without doing any real checks, and took off very fast, headed for a largely undeveloped part of Gun Frontier.

On the way, he explained to Tochiro how he had managed to spirit Mrs. Oyama out from under the noses of Earth Government to Gun Frontier. He hadn't had a chance to tell him about it yet. Tochiro cackled at some parts of the tale and then asked why Harlock hadn't told him about it. Harlock told him it was to be a birthday surprise for Tochiro, but now it was an early surprise. Tochiro grinned at his friend from ear to ear. The woman in the back listened carefully to the tale and nodded to herself.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mrs. Oyama was sitting on her front porch in a rocking chair knitting, when the whine of a fighter came overhead. She guessed that Harlock was coming in, as he was the only one who knew where she was located. She went in to put the kettle on for tea. She set out two cups and cleared the chair meant for a man's bulk and length.

She was surprised to see him come through the door bearing a very beautiful young woman wrapped in his cape, followed by a woman who was obviously the first woman's sister. Then, joy of joys, her son Tochiro followed behind them all! She ran to her son and they hugged each other tightly.

"Mother!" Tochiro cried, "I didn't know you were here! I am so glad that you are safe!" They hugged some more, while Harlock patiently waited to be told what to do with his shapely burden. After several moments of life stories being exchanged, leading up to her move to Gun Frontier, courtesy of Harlock, that she remembered that they were not alone.

She turned to Harlock and smiled up at him. "What happened to her?"

Harlock sighed. "She made a bad choice in an urgent situation involving a bounty hunter after the two of us. She got in the middle and he knocked her out. The sister kept him busy while I knocked him out. We won. Now we're here. May I please put her down somewhere?"

Mrs. Oyama chuckled. She was certain that that had been quite a scene despite Harlock's brief summary! "Certainly, Franz. Here, put her on my bed." She went with him as he put the girl onto her bed; most gently, she noted. The sister stayed with her as Harlock and Tochiro left the room and closed the door.

They went back out to the living area and Mrs. Oyama poured another cup of tea for her son. They sat by the fireplace and talked of their adventures since they had last seen her. She laughed with them, cried with them, and was very happy when she was told that she was a grandmother twice over. Harlock had told her nothing, wanting Tochiro to tell his story to his mother.

They talked into the wee hours of the night.

Harlock fell asleep on the floor near the fire, on his back with his right arm and leg out in a fencing pose, while Tochiro slept in the large chair, laying crosswise on the chair; head and feet across the chairs' arms, snoring. Mrs. Oyama put a pillow under Harlock's head and covered him with an afghan - he didn't move, other than to turn his head a bit to the right. She then curled up on the couch with another afghan and went to sleep herself.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next morning found the two exotic sisters fully awake and ready for the breakfast of pancakes, butter and syrup with thick slabs of bacon that Mrs. Oyama had prepared. The smells of the meal brought them out of the older woman's bedroom to the table with growling stomachs. The two men were wakening, but still somewhat groggy.

The sister who had been unconscious went over to the barely awake Harlock, knelt down next to him and kissed him full and hard on his lips. Vastly surprised, his eye(s) flew open, he sat bolt upright and she fell into his lap and went back to kissing him rather thoroughly. He tried to figure out what to do with his hands. Harlock settled on having his hands, palms flat on the floor slightly behind him, balancing him to sit upright under her pleasant ministrations. She settled his cape back on his shoulders and then slid her arms around his neck to keep him close while she kept him otherwise busy.

He had to admit that being kissed by an exotically beautiful and grateful woman was more than just a little bit nice. And he didn't get kissed very often. He decided to let her kiss him until she was done.

When she had determined that he had been thanked enough, she leaned back from him and said simply, "Thank you. Without you, my sister and I would be dead, or worse by now." Harlock helped her up and got up from the floor himself. His knees were a bit wobbly. Probably from being on the hard floor all night, he assured himself, it couldn't possibly have been the kissing.

Tochiro had watched the entire process absolutely stunned that Harlock had permitted an unknown female kiss him and very thoroughly at that! He didn't know whether to be happy or jealous of the attention Harlock had received and decided to be happy for his friend. He'd tell him later he had lipstick on his face. Mrs. Oyama was over at the stove making breakfast, but she was also grinning. It was about time that boy had a new female in his life! Maybe this could lead to something for him.

As they all sat to eat breakfast, Mrs. Oyama spoke to the two younger women. "So, where are you both from? And what are you doing on Gun Frontier? Not a good place for two young ladies!"

She shook her head about that as she unloaded eight pancakes onto Harlock's plate. The boy was entirely too skinny. She dumped two tablespoons of butter on top and then about a cup of syrup. She completed the mountain with five thick slices of crispy bacon. He stared at the huge pile and then up at her. He started to speak and then stopped when he noted her expression and the fact that her arms were crossed on her chest. He meekly began to eat his allotted mountain.

Tochiro, looking down at his pile of four pancakes, wondered at the disparity. He had a good appetite and Harlock didn't. Ah, well, he'd get more soon! He was amused to see Harlock manfully shoveling in the pancakes. Tochiro grinned. He wondered at the war of wills sure to come when Harlock didn't finish his pile.

The two girls daintily cut their pancakes and took a few moments to reply to Mrs. Oyama's question. "We're from really far away and are on our way to really far away in another direction." The one sister replied rather nebulously. Her sister elbowed her in the ribs.

"We are taking something to someone who needs it, but doesn't know it." She added enigmatically. That was all the two sisters would say on the subject. Harlock was strangely very quiet, even for him.

After breakfast, Mrs. Oyama cleared away the dishes and sent the two boys on errands that she needed to have burly backs perform. Firewood needed to be cut and stacked, her roof needed some shingles replaced after the last solar storm, and the garden needed to be turned and readied for planting. She also needed posts to be set for the one fence on the west side of the house. There, she thought, that ought to keep them busy and out of her hair for a while.

She returned to the house and spoke with the two women, ensuring that Harlock and Tochiro had treated them properly. She had laughed when they had told her of the game, Tochiro's predicament and Harlock's heroism in the ensuing melee after the bounty hunter had shown up. The one sister looked at the other and then at Mrs. Oyama.

"We were to leave this orb with Tochiro to give to Harlock, but not let him know that it was intended for him." The one sister said. "Things got a little out of hand," the other added. They giggled. "We're sorry, but we rather enjoyed twitting your son. He has such a readable face. We were going to let him win, soon, but then Harlock entered the game, winning the pot."

The two girls looked at each other. "We really enjoyed being with Tochiro, but when Harlock showed up, we were kind of wishing we had been playing with him and then have him be rescued by Tochiro." They giggled. "Tochiro is cute, but Harlock in his under clothes would have really been fun. And quite a sight!"

Mrs. Oyama smiled gently. Children were the same, no matter where they originated from, she thought. "Now, ladies, that would not have been very good at all. He is rather attached to his clothing and I suspect that he would have called you out on your plan sooner than later, and that might not have been as pleasant as you might have wished. He's very shy with ladies. And he is a very, very fast draw."

The two women goggled at this information. The most feared pirate of all space, shy? Attached to his clothing? They looked at each other and grinned some more.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harlock and Tochiro had finished their lengthy list of chores and decided to take a quick swim in the lake near Mrs. Oyama's home. She would keep the two younger women busy and that meant that they would have time to indulge themselves. There was no one else within fifty kilometers of the house, so it was as remote as it could be and therefore, quite safe.

They raced to the water's edge, stripped down and dove naked into the cool water. They charged around in the lake like two young fish set free for the first time in a long time. An overhanging tree made a very nice diving platform. After about an hour of splashing around they decided that they ought to return to the house.

They got up out of the water to where they had left their clothes.

They were gone.

Their eyes grew wide as they looked around frantically. They had indeed gotten out at the right place. They looked at each other in stunned disbelief. There could only be one answer. They set off at a fast barefooted and bare bottomed run back to the house, dodging low lying branches and trees.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The two young women had quietly left the men's clothes on the porch of Mrs. Oyama's house. They had also left the resplendent iridescent orb on top of Harlock's clothing pile. Then, giggling almost hysterically, they whispered to each other about the two men, the glorious unexpected bonus of their unclothed condition, and the probable reaction to their delaying tactic.

They bid goodbye to Mrs. Oyama and told her to send the men to town when they got back. The one who had bussed Harlock winked at the older lady and smiled from ear to ear as she waved goodbye. They turned and ran to where the Space Wolf was parked.

They took out the purloined decoder for the Space Wolf, popped it's canopy, then started it up and flew back to the space port outside of Gun Frontier. The one sister relocked the fighter and cloaked it again. She then walked into the saloon from the day before and walked up to the barkeep.

"Do you have an envelope?" She asked sweetly.

The barkeep handed her an envelope without a word with one of his secondary hands. He was polishing the remaining glassware with two others, and a fourth hand was writing down the damage on a report for the insurance company. The other two were out of sight behind the counter. The women would have been discomfited to know that one of those two unseen hands clutched a blaster.

The woman wrote a note, put the decoder for the Space Wolf in the envelope with the note, sealed it with a tongue the same shade as her beautiful Caribbean blue eyes. She then handed the note to him. It said simply, "Harlock."

"Please see to it that he gets this back, will you please?" She said. The barkeep nodded.

She walked out of the saloon, hips swaying and hair in counterpoint motion. Yes, he thought, she's a looker! He admired the view of her leaving and then put the note under the counter after her departure. Bob went back to polishing his remaining glassware.

The women went to a locker containing their other belongings at the spaceport, picked them up and walked out onto the tarmac to a large Space Liner headed to Antares. They boarded and went on to where they had been sent to go. It was all timed perfectly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Several hours later, Tochiro and Harlock stopped by the saloon in Mrs. Oyama's battered old flyer. The barkeep raised one of his eyebrows. The saloon was still in a lot of disarray. The two men looked more than a little harassed and upset. Harlock in particular. They all but ran into the saloon.

"Have you seen them?" Harlock blurted out as he reached the bar counter, his hair was still dripping wet and he dripped water onto the pristine bar counter, Bob noted. He wondered what that was about.

"Seen who?" the barkeep replied calmly.

"The girls! They have MY Space Wolf!" Harlock gritted out.

"Ah, them." He said and nodded his head. "Yes, they were here."

Bob paused and held a glass up to the light. It needed more polishing on the one side, he thought. He polished it some more. He kept an eye on Harlock, who looked about ready to burst.

"Well, where are they now? Where did they go? How long ago?" Harlock flung his questions like popcorn at the barkeep, who was having trouble keeping his composure, but he knew better than to laugh. Harlock may be a bit upset and overset at the moment, but he was still the Pirate Knight of Arcadia and the fastest draw Bob had ever seen. He calmly set the glass down and reached below the counter.

"Here," Bob said, "she left this for you." He went back to polishing another glass after handing Harlock the note.

Harlock dove into the envelope and found his decoder and a note. He pulled the note out and read it. When he got to the end of the note, his cheeks began to burn.

Bob saw the response and thought, he's blushing! He wondered at the content of the note.

Harlock pocketed the decoder, crumpled the note and shot it into the trashcan by the bar, and turned on his heel to leave. Tochiro followed quietly behind.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As they left the saloon Tochiro was pouting that Harlock had spoiled his fun with the ladies, telling Harlock that he was only playing the girls during the game, he wasn't flirting with them. Harlock gave him a stern look and Tochiro had lowered the brim of his usual travelling hat, hiding his embarrassed but still smiling face. Their loveliness had been enough for him. He wondered what Harlock had thought of the lengthy thank you he had been given, but Harlock was silent on that subject.

Harlock wanted to drag Tochiro back to the Arcadia to look at his intriguing prize. He took it out of his pocket to look at it. Tochiro peered up at it as well.

"Harlock, what do you think it is?" Tochiro asked, looking at the small orb in speculation.

"I have absolutely no idea, and we won't know until we get it looked at. I want to get back as soon as possible and run an analysis on it. It's obviously of alien design and origin." He looked over at his small friend. Tochiro was looking up at him a bit forlornly and a bit sheepishly as well.

"Are you going to tell Em?" Tochiro asked in a small voice.

"No, but you will." Harlock firmly replied. "Secrets are relationship killers, Toch. You need to tell her yourself."

"Yeah, but it was only a game of poker," Tochiro protested.

"One in which they somehow managed to divest you of both clothing and goods," Harlock retorted. "Are you tired of being married to Emeraldas? Or do you perhaps have a death wish?"

"Of course not!" Tochiro indignantly replied. "It's just, well, we don't get to see each other as much as I would like." Tochiro dropped his shoulders.

Harlock's gaze softened. Yes, distance in a relationship was hard; he should know. He and Maya had been separated for almost five years during the war, with infrequent but joyously intense reunions. While the reunions were wonderful, they were also painful because they had to separate again when his leave was over.

He understood Tochiro's frustrations, but Emeraldas would gun him down if she thought he had been unfaithful. And while he had not been unfaithful physically, well, his frustrations were obviously getting the better of him. And he wanted his friend alive, so he was going to go where he usually did not.

"Tochi, you invented the String Drive to overcome that problem. Why aren't you using it as much as you could?" Harlock asked carefully, aware he was treading in very personal waters.

Tochiro looked up at his friend. "Em loves me very much, I know that, but she also needs her alone time. I try to give her what she needs." He softly and sadly replied.

Harlock considered this a moment and then asked another question, "Have you asked her if this is what she wants you to do, or are you assuming that this is what she wants?" He awaited Tochiro's response.

"I ... I just know she would want this." Tochiro stopped walking; Harlock leaned across from him against the bulkhead wall of the Spaceport with his arms crossed to listen and then he spoke thoughtfully.

"You need to ask her, Toch." Harlock replied, "You really don't know her thoughts on this subject. She may think you want the time because of all the inventing you do. She may be trying to save you."

Tochiro nodded slowly. Harlock did have a point, but he had another one of his own. He had been thinking about it for some time but there hadn't been an opening for him to discuss it with Harlock. This seemed like a good opening for it.

"Harlock, we need a place other than the Death Shadow station where we can all rest, and remain safe from time to time. The station is now too small for all the people we need to support. Bounty Hunters are constantly prowling around on Gun Frontier. We need a home." Tochiro voiced the concern that had kept Harlock awake some nights.

"I know, Toch, I know. I've thought about it, but have no idea where that someplace might be. I had hoped that Earth would welcome us home after we healed her, but no, we appear to be eternal wanderers." Harlock nodded to his friend, who looked up at him and nodded in return. The two men had walked on in deep thought, each concerning his own worries.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Bob waited until they had gone and then looked into the trashcan. He wanted to see what could possibly be in a note that would make Harlock blush. He smoothed it flat and read it. The first part had him curious, the last part was fodder for twitting the Kid the next time he saw him. Bob smiled.

Dear Harlock,

Thank you for both rescuing and being kind to us, when you didn't have to do either thing. We did intend to trap Tochiro and bring you here; you were right to be suspicious of us. The jewels and the prizes were intended to test you, and you passed the tests better than we had hoped. The orb from the game belongs to you, and our Lady is right, you are a man of integrity, honor and trustworthiness. This orb is given to you by she who knows your heart and desires. Use it wisely. May you find your Arcadia.

Alieadeara and Arashenda

PS. You are really a nicely put together male; you don't have to hide behind the pirate facade.

PPS. I enjoyed the kiss. A lot.

Until next time,

Ar'shenda.

There was a perfectly formed lipstick kiss at the bottom of the note. He hadn't seen her do that and he smiled. A kiss, eh? He would have to get the rest of the story out of Mrs. Oyama the next time she came into town. He was certain she would regale him with the entire tale from her end. He would enjoy filling her in on his side of the story as well. He picked up several more glasses to polish.

Hmmm. He would have to order more glassware. He wondered if acrylic would hold up better with Harlock around.

He idly wondered if they had seen the last of the two lovely women, one of whom had dared to kiss the most feared man in all of space. He smiled. Heh. He hoped not, a kiss for the boy was a good thing now and again. It would keep him human and maybe a little less grumpy.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Author's note:

The crew of the Arcadia and the mecha that are a part of Leiji Matsumoto's universe are of his creative genius. We all love them dearly.

Obviously, Bob is Aerandir's character, the Octodian barkeep. You are right A, he shows up in the oddest places... I hadn't intended for this barkeep to be Bob, but he caught me at a weak moment! Sneaky Octodian!

Oh, and for Miss Kei and Stained Lace, Harlock does come out of his clothing every once in a while! And he's still having Trouser issues. (;-D)


	2. Chapter 2

The Bauble - Chapter 2

_"He whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."_

_~ Thomas Paine (1737-1809) ~_

Harlock and Tochiro went to the flight deck of the Space Port of Titan, outside of Gun Frontier, in order to pick up their respective Space Wolves. Tochiro checked into the main desk and logged in to retrieve his Space Wolf. He then smacked his forehead in dismay. They had forgotten to return his mother's battered flyer! Without it, she would be stranded out at the homestead. He called Harlock to remind him of their lapse. Harlock grunted and said, "Eh, you're right. Go back to Bob's and take it back to her. I'll pick you up and we'll come back here after that to get yours." Harlock went back to his current task as he was already on the tarmac opening up his flyer. He scanned the interior and started a self-check of the flyer. Fifteen minutes later, the small vessel checked out and no problems were detected from the "borrowing" by the two ladies; he concluded that there were no set booby traps or problems that needed fixing. He signaled Tochiro, "Toch, it looks okay to me. I'm going to fly back to your mom's house to pick you up."

Harlock was in the process of mounting the air steps when Diesel Jones came at him from behind with a socket wrench, intent on knocking Harlock out. As Diesel raised the wrench in glee - he was finally going to get this guy! - Harlock suddenly knelt on the step to pick up his helmet from the seat in the Space Wolf. This meant that Diesel's aim was too high, and he crashed the wrench into the side of the cockpit with a resounding clang instead of against Harlock's head. From the brute strength that Diesel possessed, the wrench got stuck into the side of the cockpit frame, and as Diesel attempted to jerk it free, Harlock turned and slugged Diesel in the left jaw with a sharp right upper cut, putting his full weight behind the blow and followed through on the punch. Without full force, Harlock knew that Diesel would barely feel it, and even then the outcome was dicey. To his gratification, the huge bounty hunter flew back ten feet, fell back onto the tarmac on his rump. However, Harlock noted, the larger man was merely shaking his head as if he was shaking a bothersome bug from his hair.

Harlock then leapt off of the step and drew his Cosmo Dragoon, and in a side facing stance he aimed it down his long arm at the bounty hunter. "If you value your head," Harlock ground out between clenched teeth, "you'll walk away and not try that again." He maintained his ready pose and waited to see what Diesel would try next. Really, he thought, this guy was an absolute irritant. He was about to be annoyed.

Diesel grinned at Harlock. "Nice try, pirate." He shook his ringing head again, the pirate might be skinny, he thought, but he did pack a rather serious punch for his slender and smaller frame. "You may have the upper hand at the moment, but next time, you might not. And then, I'll have you. You're worth quite a lot, you know." He looked up at Harlock with outstretched hands to show that he did not hold any weapons. He knew that without direct threat that Harlock wouldn't just kill him out of hand.

Harlock looked at him with narrowed eye(s). Eh. He supposed he couldn't blame the guy for trying. He probably figured that the reward money from somebody (whoever was willing to actually pay the reward, that is...) would set the man and his family up for life, or at least a really long time. However, the problem remained of how to get rid of this guy, for as soon as he turned his back, he was certain that Diesel would try again.

He motioned for Diesel to turn around and start walking. On a few occasions as they walked, Harlock had to prod the bigger man a bit, but he did get Diesel moving. Harlock looked around for someplace to leave him that would be safe enough and yet keep Diesel out of his hair long enough to take off without pursuit. Ticklish problem. He found a storage locker that looked like it was big enough for the Bounty Hunter and he motioned him to get inside.

"I have claustrophobia. I'll panic inside of that little bitty box," Diesel whined.

Harlock harrumphed and simply poked him in the ribs with his Cosmo Dragoon. Imagine, a great big fellow like Diesel being afraid of a storage locker. "Would you prefer the storage locker, being shot in the head, or to walk the Arcadia's plank?" He sneered at Diesel. "Choose wisely." Diesel chose to go into the locker after looking at Harlock's impassive face. Harlock was laughing inside, for there was no plank aboard the Arcadia, but everyone seemed to expect one - since it was a pirate ship- so he used it time and again as a scare tactic. It usually worked. Harlock secured the lock, smoothly holstered his weapon, and then moved a bunch of heavy crates in front of the locker. After he had moved about twenty really heavy boxes and shipping containers in front of the door of the locker, Harlock was sweating rather profusely. Black leathers and war grade armor made from battle cloth didn't breathe well, and now he was really hot. There, that ought to hold Diesel for a while, Harlock thought. As he walked away, he heard Diesel start to call for help. Harlock grinned. He might be hot and sweaty, but Diesel was afraid of the dark! He hoped that this little encounter would make the bounty hunter choose to find a lesser target.

Harlock swaggered back to his Space Wolf, aware that many eyes were on him. He turned to his growing space port audience. "Give me about ten minutes and then let him out. We don't want him to wet himself, now do we?" He grinned at them with his trademark lop-sided grin and winked. They all smiled back. At least Harlock was in a better mood, now, as opposed to yesterday, they thought. They all watched him mount his air steps to the Space Wolf, turn theatrically toward them with his crimson lined cape flaring out to flap dramatically in the wind, salute with his two fingered salute and entered the Space wolf.

Harlock put his helmet on, satisfied that he had played to his audience, and started up the engines. They purred nicely. He entered in the code to close the canopy and it did, until it reached the position of the socket wrench that Diesel had tried to bean him with. Drat! He had forgotten about that. He powered down and got out to see the damage the wrench had done to his flyer. Bah, He was not going to be able to do vacuum without a good seal on the canopy! He frowned. The socket wrench was nicely incorporated into the frame of the canopy. He tugged at it experimentally. No joy. That wrench wasn't going anywhere! He sighed in exasperation. Tochiro was already back at his mother's house, he was certain. He mulled over the wisdom of calling Toch back to help him, but he wasn't certain what Toch could do without tools and supplies. He might have to have the Arcadia land and bring him a replacement canopy. That would take up much more time than ten minutes. He didn't think that the locker would hold Diesel much longer than that, crates or no crates. The man was half mountain...

As he studied the problem, one of the port mechanics came up and respectfully cleared his throat. "Eh, Captain Harlock?" The tech called up to him, "You seem to have collected a socket wrench in the canopy frame. I don't think it will close or tolerate vacuum." He was stating the obvious, Harlock thought somewhat sourly. He turned to face the mechanic, "Any ideas?" Harlock asked nicely and waited.

"Well, sir, we could put a new canopy frame in for you, but the repair time would probably be several days. And it would cost about 20,000 credits." The tech waited a beat. Seeing Harlock's raised eyebrow at the cost, he hurried on to say, "But we could probably give you a nice discount." He waited a beat and then amended his statement, "Sir." The mechanic stopped talking and waited to see what Harlock would say.

Harlock thought to what he had on him. He didn't usually trade in cash, a perennial problem with being a pirate. Even still, the price quoted was exorbitant. He supposed he didn't blame them for trying. "I am a pirate, mechanic, what do you think I do when I need something? I either am given it freely, take it, or trade for it. Choose one."Harlock looked at him with crossed arms and his head slightly cocked to one side, to listen for the response.

The mechanic conferred with his mates. They quietly argued, but eventually came to a decision. "We could trade for it, but it would have to be something of equal worth, or something we could use. And, one of us will come with you back to the Arcadia, to learn from Tochiro and Majji."

Harlock's eyebrow raised at that one! Someone he had not vetted to come aboard his Arcadia? He thought for a moment. "Why?" He asked.

"Because the Arcadia is simply the best battleship that has ever come out of dry dock," the first mechanic said to him seriously. "It has innovations that we've only heard of, never seen. We want to learn at Tochiro's feet and study such a great vessel."

"You mean, rather, that you would like to come aboard the Arcadia, study it and look for salable weaknesses to sell for reward, don't you?" Harlock was not liking the direction of this bargain at all. He was beginning to think he ought to just call down the Arcadia. "No one comes aboard my ship uninvited," he said coldly. "And Majji hasn't told me that he needs more help in Engineering. Everyone does more than one job aboard the Arcadia, what else do you have to offer me?"

The first mechanic studied his hands a moment, then looked up at Harlock with yearning on his face. "Sir, I'm only a mechanical engineer, but I served aboard "The Starsha" with Captain Stephen Green. I was home on medical leave when the last battle was waged and thus I was not aboard when she was destroyed with all hands. Since then, I've gone from port to port with no real home. I won't stay on Earth, not until she is free again. If ever. I won't serve under the current regime and I really don't have anyone or anyplace to go. I've worked on almost any kind of ship you can imagine, but I have always dreamed of serving under someone who really wants Earth to be free. That commander is you, Harlock. Everybody else has some political agenda and some way to line their own pockets, but you fight because it is the right thing to do, not because it is expedient, or because you have to. Everyone who really knows about you knows what you stand for. It is a worthy thing and we would like to be a part of it."

He looked sidelong at his companions, who nodded. "In fact, all three of us would be delighted to serve aboard the Arcadia." The engineer gestured to each of the men with him as he introduced them to Harlock. "Wen Yasu, from Hong Kong, is a very gifted manufacturer and machinist of oddly shaped and unique ship parts. Cagri Beldour, of Turkey, he attended Engineering school within Earth Force Navy with top honors, but never graduated due to the end of the war and the end of the Federation. His family was also all killed in the last bombardment. He has sworn to never rest until Earth is free."

Harlock looked at all three of the men and noted their seriousness. "And you?" He asked quietly.

"I am Wulf Berger, Engineer First Class, originally from Munich. My family also died in that last bombardment. I was safe because I was down in the command center begging for them to place me on a ship. Any ship. I wanted to help in the fight." He looked down again. "They told me to go home, that no one could fight anymore after that. I went home, but there was nothing left but a large crater in the ground where my family had been. I've drifted since then."

Harlock studied all of the men before him. All maintained eye contact with him. He held each gaze for a full minute on each of them. None looked away, nor showed any of the signs that indicated hidden agendas or lying. Something in his innards told him to trust these men. It was his command "instinct" telling him when he had worthy men in his presence. And they all seemed to fit the name of warrior from different perspectives. Well, he was vetting them now, wasn't he? Let's see what they can do, he thought.

"Alright, we may have an agreement, but I have a stipulation or two. You must repair my flyer, but take only one day, not two." Harlock gestured at them with one hand. "I know all about how engineers pad their times for repairs. I don't want to stay on Titan any longer than I have to." He held up two gloved fingers. "Second, the flyer must be space worthy and tested." He held up three fingers. "Third, you'll all three come aboard the Arcadia in my Space Wolf, so install a fourth seat. It will be cramped, but possible. You will serve according to my sufferance and Majji's determination of your abilities. Agreed?"

"Yes, Sir!" All three came to attention and saluted him with jubilant smiles on their faces. He wondered if they truly knew what they were in for! Time would tell, he thought. He dismounted the air steps and tossed his helmet to the man named Wulf.

He strode over to the locker where Diesel was locked in and rapped on the door. "How are you doing in there, Diesel?" All he heard in return was a long string of invective. Harlock grinned. "We'll send you out some dinner, later." Diesel invented a few more words for Harlock's ears. Impressive, Harlock thought, at least Diesel hadn't repeated himself as of yet. Diesel didn't seem to be in too much trouble for all of his whining about claustrophobia. Harlock called over to the three men he had just agreed to ship out with. "Don't let him out just yet, I'd like a few hours of peace and quiet." They saluted him and grinned. Satisfied that Diesel would be handled for the period of time it would take him to get back to town and out to the ranch, he started to leave.

Harlock called Tochiro to update him on the recent problems and the new crewmembers he had taken on. Tochiro was back with his mother and they were enjoying dinner together. Mrs. Oyama had saved a plate for Harlock, but he told Tochiro to not wait for him; he'd find dinner and lodging for the night in town. This would give Tochiro private time with his mother. It was nice to be able to give Tochiro leave to spend time with Mrs. Oyama. Let him enjoy it while he could.

Harlock wished wistfully that he still had the ability to spend time with his own mother. She too, had died in the saturation bombardment of Earth in 2964 by Illumidas suicide bombers. A pang settled in his heart as he remembered that. His father was also gone, taking his ship, crew and allies out to no one knew where, and had disappeared on his last mission, later that same year. Harlock suspected that his father was also dead, but he did not know for certain. He was not sure if his father had fallen afoul of the Illumidas, or some other unknown threat. Both things had happened while Harlock was a 26 year-old Lieutenant Commander aboard the Death Shadow. So, he too, like his new crew members, was also alone, except for his ship and crew. As he walked out of the spaceport, he wondered when, or if, the three men would remember that he hadn't exactly agreed to pay them for their work... He smiled to himself, ah, but serving aboard the Arcadia was worth at least that much!

He whistled a tune he liked to play on his ocarina as he walked down the dusty street toward Gun Frontier. His stomach growled at him and he wondered what Bob was fixing for dinner. He grinned at the thought of the Octodian's probable response to having him around for another night. He also wondered if Bob would have any other customers with him there. Probably not. Where Harlock was, trouble seemed to soon follow, and wise beings tended to avoid being in the vicinity. Bah, serve that sneaky barkeep right! Calling him Kid all the time, he thought resentfully.

Harlock squared his shoulders. He was no kid, he was the Pirate Knight of Heiligenstadt, XCIX of the Name, and Captain of the Arcadia. And he would thank Bob to not forget those two facts!

As he got into the town, he marched cheerfully into the saloon, and felt the Imp of the Perverse in his heart come to the fore, and decided to make an entrance. He dramatically dusted off his black leathers and posed in the doorway of the saloon. To Bob's obvious horror, Harlock spread his arms open wide, black cape at his back flapping in the street's breeze, gleefully calling out to Bob, "Hi, Honey, I'm home!"

Harlock really enjoyed Bob's response. It was everything and more that he had hoped for. It was about time to turn tables on the Octodian; he was going to enjoy this.

The Octodian, for his part, covered his eyes with two of his six upper appendages, and held his temples with two more, and put his last pair under his chin. He leaned over on his bar counter, setting his multiple elbows on it, and moaned. Great, the Kid was back. What part of the establishment was left for him to destroy this time? And there went his paying customers, he thought despairingly, as several slipped out the door behind his new guest.

Lovely. Just lovely, Bob thought, and then he brightened. Ah, but there was still that matter of the lady, the kiss, and the note. Hmm, he thought, as he peeked out behind his multiple hands at Harlock, maybe the evening wouldn't be a total loss! He reached below the bar, pulled out an acrylic glass (They had just arrived) and poured Harlock some nice Heavy Red Bourbon. He set the glass on the bar and slid it toward Harlock, who caught it handily. He downed it in one gulp and Bob noted with satisfaction that his eye(s) were watering slightly. Bob grinned. Harlock grinned back and sat down at the bar while he updated Bob on the latest news.

Perhaps he wouldn't need to get the story out of Mrs. Oyama, Bob thought, maybe he could loosen the Arcadia's Master and Commander's tongue with a little liquid encouragement. It was certainly worth the try. As Harlock talked, Bob continued to pour.

Harlock knew what the game was about, but he wasn't about to spoil the Octodian's fun. He was going to have some fun of his own. He hid his own smile with the rim of the glass as he swallowed another round. Harlock shivered as the powerful drink slid down his throat to his stomach; it burned nicely, making him warm through and through. Mmmmm. Doc was going to have a conniption about his imbibing the quantity of Bourbon that Bob obviously had in mind, he thought, but that was a problem for tomorrow. Medical people worried too much. He sighed happily and held his glass out for more.

Bob was only too happy to oblige him, but figured at some point that he would have to feed Harlock. The boy was getting entirely too skinny. The two friends settled into their evening of drinking companionably and exchanging barbs, information and one-upmanship that frequently marked their odd friendship. If no one else was present to witness the events and laughter that followed, well, that was their loss.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The mechanics eventually let Diesel out of his locker, only to then hustle him onto his own ship and get him off planet. Diesel fumed, but since he had tried to restrict Harlock's freedom, he was clearly not obeying one of the only two rules of the planet. (The other being not to interfere with another man's drink.) So, he had no option other than to leave, or be blasted out of the sky. He wasn't done with Harlock yet, he vowed; he just had to figure out another way to get at him. Diesel might be large mountain of a man, but he was quick enough in intellect to be a very good bounty hunter and this posed only a momentary set back. Harlock may have won this round, but there would be others, of that he was certain!

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Far away in a galaxy barely visible to the naked eye, far beyond all of the posturing, wars, and troubles of the younger races, a glowing golden woman with dark black hair, turquoise eyes, wearing a crown and a diaphanous gown, viewed a report by her two operatives. She smiled as she got to the bottom of the report and touched the words inscribed with feelings she could actually palpate. Hmmm. Her youngest daughter was taken with the good Captain. Interesting. Her smile widened as she read the other things that had occurred as well as the thoughts and feelings behind the words. And from the feelings she read in her daughter, some of Harlock's thoughts and feelings also flowed across the link to her mind. She savored his aura of strength, acceptance, surprising gentleness, and resolve.

She had been impressed with him before, when he had competed with Zone. She was even more impressed with him now. He had grown so much, had been hurt and rejected so often, and yet he still shone as brightly as he had when Michael had first marked him at his Knighting. Harlock was a strong and worthy Knight. She tapped the missive against one slender hand and thought. Hope and love, she thought, in almost equal measure. Interesting that in such a feared man that the strongest feelings he possessed were the two most elusive and yet most valued. She smiled to herself. Never would his enemies understand him, fueled by pride, greed and hate as they were. She would continue to watch and see. She wondered how long it would take him to look at his new prize, and if he would dare attempt to use it.

OOOOOOOOOO

_**Author's Notes**_: _Yes, there are some dates in here. I now hold a partial timeline for the Harlockian saga. It looks reasonably solid, if you ignore some obvious overlapping stories and alternate timelines. I actually can make some sense of it, but the big question to be answered, of course, is how Harlock manages to live so long. Leiji-San himself will hopefully give us an answer in the CG movie to come. He has stated in interviews that all of the stories do connect, GE 999, Galaxy Railways, Millennium Queen, Yamamato/Star Blazers, and the Harlock works, so I will walk out on faith with that one!_


	3. Chapter 3

**The Bauble** - Chapter 3

_"Taunting Death ... means pitting oneself against a wily enemy who cannot lose."_

_J. K. ROWLING, The Tales of Beedle the Bard_

The next morning found Tochiro in his sleeping chair at his mother's house. His brown poncho was draped across him and a pillow nestled his head of messy dark brown hair. He was snoring softly with an open mouth when his mother awakened. She dressed quietly in her room and came out to the large room that held the living area and kitchen off to one side. She took a few treasured moments to look at her sleeping son. He was now grown and a man in his own right. It seemed to her that his childhood had not been that distant; she remembered the cheerful, inquisitive child who had a knack for seeing the good in everything. She smiled and thought that this was perhaps the best part of the friendship bond he shared with Franz, the quiet, sometimes brooding, and intensely private young Pirate Knight.

She wondered what they had seen out there; their path was not an easy one, she knew. Mrs. Oyama wondered if the two men had had any idea of what their lives would be like after the domination of the Illumidas. She also wondered if knowing what they now knew, would they do it all over again the same way? One could wonder, of course, but life did not generally offer any capacity to do things over again. But she did wonder. She hoped that both men could find some measure of peace, somewhere, somehow. Or, were they likely to be eternal wanderers? She puzzled these thoughts out in her mind. She was glad to know that she was a grandmother, and that Tochiro and Emeraldas seemed to be in a good relationship with each other. The love that appeared on his face when he spoke of her convinced her that the marriage was a strong one.

She shook her head. Trust Harlock to be close mouthed about her son's life and make her wait until Tochiro could come to see her himself! Franz loved being mysterious at times, and at other times he was an open book. Imagine, she thought, a line of men, all named the same thing, all the way back to the beginning of the clan's formation and forward to the current denizen, Phantom Franz Ahren Axel Josef Graf Harlock, XCIX, to be precise; Captain and Commander of the ship Death Shadow, and now the Arcadia - which her son had built in secret. She smiled to herself. Who would have guessed all of this? Not her!

She busied herself in the beginnings of the day, washing fruit for breakfast and beginning the meal. She set on a pot of tea and knew that the smells of food would awaken her child. She thought to make his favorite, for who knew when she would see him again? She pulled a steak out of the cooler to grill on the stove. Tochiro loved steak above all other meals and he would have it for breakfast this day, she was going to insist upon that! Steak as high as it was wide...

OOOOO

Harlock was slow to awaken. He found himself on a bed that was a little too short for his long legs, with the covers drawn up over him. His bare feet were over the edge of the bottom of the bed, and he was still in his underwear with his outer clothes draped over a nearby chair. His Calvary boots were beside the bed and his boot socks were sticking out of the boot tops. His blearily glanced around and noted that his weapons were hanging on the post on the headboard. The curtains were drawn against the distant sun's rays and he knew it had to be mid-morning at least.

It hurt to move his head very much as he was suffering from the effects of far too much red bourbon last night. He had stopped counting somewhere after twenty fingers of the wonderful stuff. Somehow, he had climbed up to the third floor of the saloon to the living quarters and gotten into bed after taking his clothes off. He had absolutely no memory of this at all. His mouth tasted like a cat's litter box and he smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in distaste. Bleah! He desperately need to clean his mouth out.

He swung his feet over the side of the bed and put his feet on the ground. So far so good. He went to get up and swayed somewhat alarmingly. He sat back down. Eh. This was not going to be as easy as he had at first thought! He concentrated intently, stood up and stayed motionless for a moment. Then he carefully put one foot out ahead of the other one, then the next. He walked slowly to the bathroom and hunted for a toothbrush. A new one was still wrapped in the drawer of the vanity. Good, he thought, at least Bob keeps the Inn properly. He carefully brushed his teeth and tongue and then worked on getting himself back together. He was going to have to check on the Space Wolf today and his new crewmember's progress. Currently, he wasn't in much of a state to do much of anything.

Harlock checked the medicine cabinet for anti-inebriation pills - these would help with his foggy head, and not so great coordination from too much alcohol! He saw them - two bottles, in fact - so he took the recommended dose for his weight and probable amount of alcohol. That should clear his head after he got his shower. He idly wondered what people had done before the pills had been invented as he let the shower's steam work its magic on him.

He felt much improved after the shower, so he went over to finish getting himself together. As he combed his less than cooperative hair, and put his eye patch back on, he noted that he had left the pill bottle out. Being a rather precise person in some areas, he went to put it away in the cabinet. Strangely, where he had seen two bottles before, this one seemed to be the only one, now. How was that even possible? He only had one working eye! Puzzling over how he had had double vision with monocular sight, he cocked his head, shrugged his shoulders and decided not to worry over much about it. He went back out into the room and pulled on his clothes and boots. He was much steadier now and able to get dressed without wobbling.

He went down to talk to a certain Octodian about his tactics about last night. Harlock wondered how much of his guts he had spilled as he had been drinking, for he knew that the reason Bob had pushed the alcohol on him was to get him to talk. He grimaced and wondered what he had said. He also wondered where Bob had come up with the red bourbon he had gotten him sauced on last night. He had never tasted it's like. While it had been of wonderful depth and flavor, it obviously packed a rather serious punch. He was going to have to be careful about that one in the future!

OOOOO

Bob was downstairs at the bar countertop and he was polishing glassware again. He found it to be a very relaxing activity. He had finished breakfast hours ago, but had saved a plate for Harlock. He knew the boy would be up soon, and hungry from his exertions from the previous day. He planned to get Harlock to help him with some of the repairs as he knew Harlock was good with his hands and very good with wood working; they had always joked that woodworking was in his solidly southern Germanic genes. That genetic gifting would save Bob some money on the renovations. Besides, the Kid owed him, being as he had all but destroyed this establishment!

Bob looked up as Harlock came down the stairs, who was moving slowly, and very carefully. He grinned behind one of the glasses he was polishing. Yes, that new recipe of Heavy Red Bourbon had done a very nice job last night. It had taken forever for it to work, but it had eventually done so. Harlock had spilled his guts about the girl, the kiss and his own longing for someone to find him worthy of a real relationship again, and being certain that no such brave lady existed. Oh, many had been attracted to his notoriety and scarred handsomeness, and some had wanted to just experience him and live to tell the tale, but none had really wanted _him._ He had gotten very morose on the subject.

Harlock was entirely lonely, Bob thought. Losing Maya had really set him back on his heels. He was one of the few who knew their full history; Bob remembered that Harlock had been in love with her from the time he had first met her, when he was but a lad of fourteen. Harlock had waxed absolutely poetic about her beautiful eyes, long lashes and spirited way - to the point that Bob had told him to marry the girl already, and stop annoying him with the details. They had courted seriously and had gotten married in 2960, before Harlock had left on his first tour of duty in the Illumidas war, immediately after his graduation with honors from the Space Defense Academy. Bob also remembered that Maya had died in 2967, at the close of the war between the Illumidas and the Solar Federation. Her death marked the end of an era of Earth's independence to the new enslaved mentality, and the beginning of Harlock's wanderings as a Space Pirate Knight in search of his Arcadia.

At that time, Bob thought, Harlock had known and loved Maya half of his life. That kind of love and loss marked a man, he was sure.

Harlock looked at Bob's serious face and wondered what he was thinking about. He was wondering what he had told Bob last night, but decided it was probably a moot point. He was hungry and could smell food. "Do you have any leftover breakfast?" He asked plaintively.

"Of course," Bob said smiling at his young friend. "But you're going to have to earn it - I need help around here and since you were the cause of all of the destruction, you can help set it all to rights!"

Harlock gaped at Bob's version of the events. "What do you mean - I didn't start all of that, the bounty hunter Diesel Jones started it; I merely finished it." He crossed his arms across his chest. "Find Diesel and make HIM do the work. I was the victim, not the perpetrator." Harlock raised his chin up a bit to set his jaw, daring Bob to say differently.

"Perhaps so, but you are here, and he is not. He is out of my reach; you are not." Bob replied calmly. He smiled as he saw Harlock go for his Cosmo Dragoon; which Bob had thoughtfully removed from his weapons belt along with the Gravity Saber while Harlock was asking about breakfast. They were both now under the bar for safe keeping, and Harlock was discovering that he was without a weapon to challenge Bob. He saw Harlock's lowered brows and tried to not laugh. Sometimes the Kid forgot Bob had six arms...and he imagined it was hard for him to keep track of all six of them! After all, the poor humans only had but two...

Harlock grunted and blew air out. Well, he supposed he could help - after all, Bob was a friend of sorts, and he had indeed managed to get the place trashed while trying to control Diesel. While it wasn't his fault, he HAD been the focus of it all and it was probably a good thing to help the Octodian. The only problems he could see were that if Diesel heard of the efforts, he'd come back and try again! "What about Diesel?" He asked Bob. "He'll certainly be interested that I am still here and that you have me working!"

Bob grinned. "Diesel is gone. They shipped him off-planet last night and he isn't able to come back while you are still here. You know how the rules go. So, you are a free man for a little while longer."

Seeing no real way out, Harlock said, "Eh. Well, I guess I can help you some. But, the Space Wolf will be ready today and I have to get Tochiro back into town as well. Another problem though, won't people suspect that you are not so upset with me as you should be?"

"Not really, Harlock. Everybody here knows the truth anyway and those who don't know it, don't want to know it. I don't think that there will be any more problems." Bob crossed a few fingers behind his back. He hoped that there were no more bounty hunters currently on Titan! He slid the plate into the warmer and shut the door. The smells of cooking food made Harlock's stomach growl in reminder.

"Fine." Harlock ground out. "I'll help for the rest of the afternoon, by then, the Fighter should be ready and Tochiro should be done visiting with his mother." Harlock turned on his heel and went to the basement where he knew Bob would have a shop set up for him. He looked at the supplies and formulated a plan. It shouldn't be that bad, actually. Repairing the floor joists where Diesel had blown them thorough would be the worst part of the whole repair, otherwise it was mostly cosmetic. He started by measuring the beams that were available and went back upstairs to see if breakfast was ready.

It was going to be a long afternoon. Thankfully, he rather enjoyed working with wood, so it wasn't the chore he was making it out to be. He took his cape off and slung it over the barstool, sat on the next one and chowed down on breakfast; two eggs over easy, two toast, and four bacon slices with coffee and Yamula juice. It was really good and he ate every bite. Bob watched Harlock eat, while not letting him know he was watching him out of the corner of his eye; he continued his glassware polishing.

OOOOO

Later that afternoon, Harlock had finished repairing the floor joist beams with Bob's help in holding them with his handy six arms, while he had hammered them in place and reinforced the juncture between the new and the old beams. They were sturdy enough now to bear whatever needed to be placed in the second floor room. He had refaced the walls with new drywall and supports, and also had re-hung the coat room door on new hinges as the old ones had gotten bent when Diesel had fallen into the door. Harlock was in the process of finishing up on putting new tabletops on the barroom tables and had already repaired the damaged chairs, when Tochiro entered the saloon.

"Hey, Harlock? What are you doing?" Tochiro asked curiously. "Doesn't Bob have insurance to get all of this fixed?" Tochiro blinked at his friend's face.

Harlock slowly turned to Bob. "Well, do you have insurance to cover all of this work that I just did today?" He crossed his arms over his chest and they both looked at the suddenly innocent Octodian.

"Well, while I may have insurance, it IS the third time this year that the saloon has had to be put to rights. After all, I have to pay the premiums and since they found out that you tend to come here whenever you're in port, my premiums have gone up considerably. You bring mayhem with you on an alarmingly regular basis. And, you chase out all of my paying customers. So, I figure that you owe me." Bob had four hands out to either side in a position of "what else was I to do?" A towel for glass polishing and a glass in need of being polished were held in the remaining hands.

Harlock thought this through. It was true that where he went, trouble soon followed. Not that he TRIED to have trouble follow him, it just did. Regularly. In fact, he was very much a trouble magnet if he was honest with himself. So, he could actually see Bob's point. However, it would have been nice to have had the choice to say no, too. He glared at Bob. "You'll have to get someone else to finish the paintwork and resealing the table tops. I have to go with Tochiro, check on my flyer, and see how my new crew members are doing with the repairs."

Harlock walked over to the barstool and put down the hammer and the work belt he had been using and put his cape back on. He then held out his hands and smirked as Bob reluctantly put his Gravity Saber and Cosmo Dragoon on the counter. He rearmed himself. He was glad to have his weapons back as he felt absolutely naked without them. He saluted Bob with his two fingered salute and turned on his heel to leave with Tochiro who had wisely refrained from laughing or commenting on his friend's discomfort with being a little taken advantage of.

"The new crew?" Tochiro asked with curiously. "I know you said you took on some new crew - I didn't know we needed anyone else - what were you planning to have them do?"

"I'm not entirely sure, yet." Harlock replied. "But they all have either Engineering or Fighter Pilot experience and really want to join up with us. I don't like to throw away good experience. Besides which, both you and Majji are constantly telling me that we need to refit the Arcadia again, so, more hands make light work. I figure that they will come in handy. Maybe this way, we can have an engineer in each of the Space Wolf squadrons. I'd also like to have a medic in each one, too." Tochiro nodded. It was a good plan.

OOOOO

They had almost reached the Space Port when a seemingly out of control flyer just about ran them off of the road and into the ditch on the side. Harlock gracefully rolled off of the roadside, while Tochiro dove for the trench to avoid the oncoming flyer. The flyer engaged full reverse thrusters and swerved to a halt before the two pirates had cleared the opposite embankment to run into the adjoining forest. Out of the flyer, came two large beings, one of whom was Diesel Jones, who was supposed to not be on Titan for at least 20 days, per the agreements for breaking the only two rules the planetoid had.

The other being was Fly Trap "Harry," a bounty hunter from a strange world known as Ciarriahq; in the Andromeda galaxy. This was a major problem for both the human pirates as people from Ciarriahq were, to put it bluntly, large bugs. They looked like a cross between Praying Mantis and the Walking Stick bugs of Earth, however, one would also have to envision that bug written large enough to be eight standard feet tall, 400 pounds, with a Venus Fly Trap type of mouth, and poisonous barbs on the ends of their digits. They had compound eyes and in the juvenile states, wings. Fortunately, Harry was beyond that stage of its life. However, as a fully grown specimen of its species, Harry had other advantages. One of which was speed. Six legs helped with that a lot, not to mention the armored and almost impervious skeletal armor that it was born with. In short, a blaster wasn't able to cut through a Ciarriahqian's armor on the first try.

Tochiro and Harlock split up instinctively and tried to circle around to confuse their enemies, using the cover of the forest to help them. The two men had little advantage as they were barely ahead of their pursuers. Harry's compound vision was a distinct advantage as was his speed and ability to use the trees of the forest as launching platforms to gain large amounts of ground in pursuing the two pirates. Harry went after Harlock and Jones pursed Tochiro.

Tochiro made out reasonably well, as he could fit under and through places that Jones could not go. This gave him a good advantage. He was using his very sharp Katana to make following him very difficult for the bounty hunter by hacking through underbrush to put it between himself and Diesel. It was working, albeit it was a slower process than he would have liked. From 500 yards away, he could hear Harlock panting as he worked to elude Harry and realized that his tall friend was at a distinct disadvantage. He had to level the playing field or Harlock could be killed by Harry in one bad move; that bug was fast!

Tochiro laid a trap for Diesel after disappearing under a log and coming up the opposite side. He clambered up the tree that had lots of nice confusing branches. As Diesel stopped to look for Tochiro amid the undergrowth of the forest, Tochiro was able to drop down on him from above, bang him on the temple with his Cosmo Dragoon and rode him down to the forest floor as the big bounty hunter hit the dirt with a resounding thud. He hoped that he had hit the same place that Harlock had hit the day before, as that would give him a longer time to have to dodge the bigger man. Pound for pound and inch for inch at 5 feet 6 inches and 150 pounds, Tochiro knew he was no match in height, weight or reach.

Tochiro leapt off of the unconscious Diesel, and hit the ground running. He hoped that he had knocked Diesel out enough to keep him out of the game. He ran to where the game of cat and mouse between Harlock and Harry was getting hotter. He was very careful in his approach in hopes that "Harry" wouldn't hear him.

Unfortunately, one of Harry's other superior senses was his hearing and another advantage was the ability to sense heat. The bug turned compound eyes on Tochiro's direction. Well, thought Tochiro, no time like the present to test out the new setting on the Cosmo Dragoon! He dialed up to the maximum setting and fired wildly in the direction of the bug. Firearm building was a particular gift for Tochiro, however, aiming accurately wasn't his forte. Well, if he laid down enough fire, it ought to make the bug dance a bit! Hopefully, Harlock would take the hint and keep his head down.

As Tochiro fired indiscriminately at the Ciarriahqian, Harlock yelled out at him from behind a tree, "Tochiro, What are you _DOING?_" Harlock had hit the dirt when Tochiro had first started to fire the Cosmo Dragoon, knowing his friend's target shooting history. Especially since he was using the new, higher setting as evidenced by the massive destruction resulting from the blasts. He needed to keep out of range and out of the path of the powerful weapon's bolts. Harlock got his own weapon out and moved the setting to maximum as well. They might as well catch the bug in crossfire! As he got his weapon on line, he suddenly noticed that the bug had made a mighty leap to the tree top under which he was now hugging the ground at its base. This was less than good, he thought.

Harry dropped off of the tree in a maneuver to trap Harlock and end the engagement, since the bombardment from Tochiro was very intense, albeit poorly directed. As he fell down towards Harlock, he spread his lethal limbs out to trap Harlock with his deadly pincers; Harry intended to entrap the pirate and skewer him with his razor sharp pincers and barbs. The reward stated that it didn't matter if the pirate was dead or alive, so the bug decided that dead meant his prize wouldn't be able to escape. He opened his mouth in a parody of a grin as he allowed gravity to take him to his prize. The firing against him didn't matter, he thought. Nothing could get through his skeletal armor!

Harlock rolled over on his back and fired straight up at the bug as it descended upon him, all limbs outstretched to attempt to entrap Harlock and pin him with his poisonous barbs. Harlock kept the hammer down and kept firing at what was for the Cosmo Dragoon, point blank range. As near as he could tell, it was having little effect on the descending nightmarish bug. Harlock desperately rolled to the side in an attempt to get out of range of those poisonous pincer like hands.

He almost made it. In the two seconds between the bug launching itself down against him, his continuous firing and attempting to roll out of range, Harry had shifted its trajectory to match Harlock's roll. Harlock was up against the next tree, out of rolling room as Harry plummeted into him. Fortunately, between both his more accurate aim and Tochiro's wild firing, the bug was finally dead, but the poisonous barbs were still active. Two of the bug's feet punctured his left thigh and right bicep. Harlock screamed as the searing pain of the poison hit his system. Fire raced along his nerves and punched into his brain. He suddenly saw colors that did not exist, and smells that he had no words to describe. Then, as the fire within him grew to a new, beyond bearable, indescribable level, his body stiffened in an upward arch and then went limp as he passed out and knew no more.

Tochiro, looking on in horror, saw the ending of the fight and saw his friend go limp. Tears started to form in his eyes as he knew what it meant. He quickly pulled off his belt and removed the built in receiver he had made sure to include in both of their weapons belts.

_"Arcadia! Captain DOWN! Medical Alert prime! Bug attack..."_ he screamed into the receiver as he ran to get to Harlock. He pulled on the bug, disengaging it from Harlock's flesh, being careful to not let its feet graze him as he jerked the bug off of Harlock. Fear gave him strength he had not known he possessed; the 400 pound bug seemed like a 50 pound child at that moment. He counted to sixty, to allow a minute to pass for some of the poison to pour out from the open, bleeding puncture wounds that Harlock now had. He checked Harlock's breathing. It had been jerky as he had pulled the bug off, and now Harlock's breathing was gasping and shallow. He unzipped Harlock's collar on his shirt to get to his jugular artery; felt his pulse up in his neck, which was now rather weak and thready. He looked anxiously toward the sky for a sign of the Arcadia bearing down on them.

Tears were streaming down his despairing face as he prepared to do CPR and buy time for the Arcadia to arrive with its medics and advanced, top of the line, sickbay. Dear God in Heaven! He thought, that poison was acting faster than he thought that it could. Harlock's body then stiffened in a seizure and he stopped breathing altogether. Tochiro began to work on his friend, giving him two breaths against a pair of lungs that did not seem to want to comply...

OOOOO

Author's Note:

I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner than later, for rather obvious reasons...

Harlock's name is part my invention and Mr. Matsumoto's. I've also given you a clue as to who I think he's really patterned after...

Franz is for freedom, Ahren for eagle and taking flight - the Harlock boys are all pilots of some sort of vessels..., Axel is a Germanic variant of Alexander - meaning protector and defender of mankind, and Josef is the Confirmation name, because each of the Biblical Joe's are good men of integrity, honor, and quite protective of those under their care, while doing what is right.

Leiji said he used Phantom because Harlock was like a dream, a ghost in his mind and that when he names characters he does so because of what the words mean. The two first Harlocks we run into are both P.F. Harlock... So, I expanded it a bit to match title and importance of the bearer.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Bauble - Chapter 4**

_"The hallway of every man's life is paced with pictures; pictures gay and pictures gloomy, all useful, _

_for if we be wise, we can learn from them a richer and braver way to live."  
>Sean O'Casey<em>

Kei Yuki and Tadashi Daiba had both been on the bridge working on various projects when the call came through from Tochiro. They had almost not recognized his voice from his obvious distress. _"Captain DOWN! ... Bug Attack..."_ They both shivered in a visceral reaction to the words "Bug Attack" and dove for the controls, to begin to swing the Arcadia into a dive towards Titan's surface.

As they reached for the controls, Kei noticed with shock that the great wheel of the Arcadia flew as if Harlock himself had spun it in urgent response. They watched in amazement as the Arcadia started an in-atmospheric dive, the computer console alive and dancing with light and activity. They knew that the ship had a lot of automation, but they had not guessed the extent nor intelligence of the AI. Still, they checked to ensure that all was properly done.

Tadashi hit the all stations alarm button on the main console. Klaxons started ringing and calling out ship wide: "Red Signals to all hands, battle stations! Medical Alert; sickbay to docking ramp." The two bridge officers held on for dear life as the Arcadia responded with full emergency power in atmosphere. The ride was more than a little bumpy, despite powerful ship stabilizers. People scrambled to stations, not quite certain what to expect with the wild ride they were on.

Doc Zero and Thea Mallory made their way to the docking ramp with as much speed as was possible. On the way to the docking ramp, they pulled the Bug venom antidote from cold storage; Thea hoped that it was not expired. No one had come across a Bug in a very long time as they were quite rare even in their native Andromeda galaxy, mostly since their poisoned digits and highly martial nature had ensured that other races kept them in check. She shuddered. She had only heard tales about the Bugs and had never seen one up close. She really didn't want to meet one, either. If the Captain had fallen afoul of one, his survival was questionable at best. She and Bero exchanged worried looks.

OOOOO

Bob was sweeping out the remains of the construction debris that Harlock had left behind. As he swept it out of the swinging front doors of the Saloon, he happened to look up at a sight he had never thought to see. The Arcadia was coming in, hot and heavy towards the direction of the Spaceport. He realized that the ship was coming in on full military power as it blurred and trembled in its image. Dark Matter split off of its sides and caused the atmosphere to bubble and boil away near it. The ship was impressive enough without the current maneuver, and the in-atmosphere Dark Matter dive underscored the magnificence of the war ship.

No one had ever tried such a maneuver that Bob was aware of, indeed, he knew of no other ships powered and shielded by it. Dark Matter was tricky enough up in space where it properly belonged...

He looked at the fearsome sight and realized that if the Arcadia was coming in that manner, something was dreadfully wrong. And Harlock and Tochiro had left less than an hour before...

"The Kid! No..."

He dropped the broom, ran to behind the bar and belted on his blaster. He leapt out the back door to his parked flyer and jumped in. The sonic boom of the Arcadia's delayed in-atmosphere-shredding almost rocked him out of the flyer. A fierce wind blew against him and moved his flyer a good 50 yards. Several trees were uprooted and tossed. Bob hoped that no one had been out walking in that sudden gale, as he skillfully got control of his flyer. Sometimes it was very helpful to have multiple arms and hands. He headed for the spaceport.

OOOOO

Three new hopeful Arcadia crew members were completing the repairs on Harlock's Space Wolf. They grinned to each other as they snapped his canopy shut. Yasu looked up in the sky and let out a curse; reopened the canopy and yelled to the other two, "GET IN!" All three men crowded into the cockpit as Yasu keyed it to shut before they were even fully seated. He powered up without a checklist and got the smaller ship airborne and above the tarmac before the shockwave of the Arcadia's arrival hit the deck. Smaller craft all tumbled about like weeds below them, and cargo boxes were strewn about like small children's blocks. Fortunately, this was near dinner time and most beings were thinking about what to do about their meal, which meant that most were under cover. A few unfortunate ones were not, and they tumbled about like the cargo. The three men hoped that no one was badly injured.

As Yasu dealt with the bucking Space Wolf, Berger and Beldour were all treated to the rare sight of the Arcadia arriving like the vengeful wrath of God himself, riding on clouds of Dark and Anti-matter. It was a fearsome and awesome sight. The Arcadia slowed and stopped almost midair. They gaped. No ship that size could do that! But it did; the Arcadia hovered for a moment, readjusted its position almost gently and softly came to rest in the forest to the west of the Space Port. Clouds of tree debris flew up lofted by the high winds, birds and other denizens of the forest ran or flew up out of harm's way. The three men wondered what the emergency was all about...

OOOOOO

Inside of Harlock's pocket, the beautiful iridescent orb began to glow fiercely. It sent out a subspace signal along the strings of time and space to its Makers. It did not need to travel by the normal paths - it was part of the universe itself, and thus transmission was instantaneous. A feat that Tochiro would be quite interested in, were he not currently occupied with keeping his best friend alive until help could come.

OOOOO

The golden Queen of Arcadia gasped as she received the orb's signal - it stated that Harlock was dying! No! This could not be permitted! Without him, hope for the Nine Races of Man was much slimmer - nine of the Guardian Families were extinct already, and Harlock's family line was the strongest of the remaining three.

She called to her priestesses in her mind and they all instantaneously converged on the temple of Arcadia. Each of them mentally bonded with their Queen and her crown gleamed with the combined power of all of them. Its gathered energy shot a warp through space and time through the vibrating spheres of matter itself, to the small world-let known as Titan, and a town called Gun Frontier.

They reached out across space and time to the one man they were desperate to save. His mind was dark and almost cold. They could feel him slipping away from this universe and as one they reached out to hold on to the slender thread of life tying him to his body. It stretched, thinned and grew taut...

OOOOO

Ar'shenda and Al'deara were on the liner towards Antares when they felt the pull of the combined might of the temple priestesses of Arcadia. They quickly left the solar where they were and found a separate room where no one could observe them. They also combined with the mighty spiritual and telepathic bond with their sisters and Queen Mother. Ar'shenda slid out further on the thread than the rest of them. She called to him as she tightly gripped his soul thread.

_Harlock! Harlock!_

OOOOOO

In her quarters, Mimee, already glowing and suffering from a massive headache since Harlock had been wounded, gasped and screamed aloud as something powerful grabbed her mind and forcefully added her to the collective group of grim golden females. "No!" Her fear of the Golden Ones of early legends from Jura was a powerful thing, and she tried to shrink away from them in her mind, to no avail.

"You will help us!" The Golden Mind(s) gripped her firmly and pointed her attention away from her fear of them to the scene below the ship, played out as if from afar. Harlock! She recognized his mental signature - it was almost dark and she noted that his body was still, but for Tochiro trying to resuscitate him; she quailed. It was as she had feared! She looked into multiple Golden Minds and discovered that they wanted her help - to help him. She didn't like being with them, but she agreed for Harlock's sake.

They added her into the holding of his soul's thread. Mimee noticed one of the Goldens further out on the thread calling to him. She wondered who she was and why she seemed so desperate compared to the cold, determined competence of the others. She moved forward to help her. Anyone who was trying to help Harlock was someone whom she would help. She added her voice to the one called Ar'shenda.

_Harlock! Harlock!_

_Harlock! Harlock!_

OOOOO

Doc Zero and Thea were in motion even before the ramp fully deployed from the Arcadia's flank. They ran to where Tochiro was performing CPR on Harlock. Two medics followed with the anti-gravity stretcher. Doc Zero and Thea both had hypo syringes in hand, and as soon as they got to Harlock, both injected him with the anti-venom, reloaded and hit him again with as much anti-venom as they dared. Too little and he would have no chance, too much and the effects of the anti-venom became as bad as the venom itself. The medics loaded him carefully on the anti-gravity stretcher and Tochiro hopped astride Harlock's body, still doing CPR as the group ran back to the Arcadia.

By the time that they were back up the ramp again, two intravenous lines had been started, Harlock was given a breathing tube, and one of the Medics had replaced Tochiro as the main CPR person. Tochiro collapsed on the ramp in tears, ashen and shaky from the afternoon's events.

Some of the Arcadia's crew had gathered above to watch as Harlock was borne aboard, looking for all the world as if he was dead. Tochiro rose up, took off his glasses and wiped away his tears. He called to them and said, "Come, we have to get the Bug on board, too. Doc and Thea will need its body to make more anti-venom."

Four of the men came down the ramp, as two more got an anti-gravity sled and impervious gauntlets to handle the Bug. Bugs were heavy and with their poisoned digits, not safe to handle with bare hands.

OOOOO

Diesel Jones awakened from his enforced nap. He found himself stuck in the crook of a tree about twenty feet in the air. How he had gotten there, he had no idea. He had been chasing that short little Engineer of Harlock's, Tochiro Oyama.. . He moaned; his head hurt. In fact, it hurt in the same place that Harlock had knocked him out the day before. Damn pirates!

He worked on getting himself free from the tree. Since he had been unconscious when the Arcadia went in atmosphere, he did not see the Arcadia's descent and was quite a distance away from where he had been when Tochiro had cold-cocked him. He struggled down the tree nursing his sore head and even more sore back and side. Getting forcibly moved by the gale force winds and stuffed into a tree had not improved his bad humor. On top of that, his prey had escaped. Again. It was enough to give a bounty hunter a headache.

He wondered what had happened to Harry. He took out his Com and tried to call the Ciarriahqian's Com as he walked back towards where he remembered he had been. Somehow, according to the GPS within the unit, he had miraculously floated a good three miles away from where they had cornered the two pirates. He wondered how that was possible. Well, whatever happened, and however it had happened didn't matter just now. Getting back to the scene of the attack was far more urgent. He sprang into a painful trot.

OOOOO

Doc Zero and Thea guided the stretcher into sickbay and the medics assisted with getting Harlock's clothing and battle armor cut off of him. They quickly lifted him off of the transport stretcher and deposited his naked, bleeding, and unconscious form onto the diagnostic bed. The computer sprang into a litany of the injuries, vital signs, general condition, and progress of the both the Bug Venom, and anti-venom. Doc Zero, Thea, and the two medics sprang into action as a well-oiled team as the computer verbally gave them the information they needed to treat Harlock.

_Patient: Harlock, P.F., Blood Type: O negative; twelve autologous frozen units on standby. Critical condition. Ciarriahqian blood venom poisoning, 30% of circulating volume and rising. Two entry wounds, left rectus femoris and vastus lateralis juncture, and right lateral bicep. Autolysis of red blood cells consistent with venom poisoning; current count 9.6 and falling. Cells in irreversible phase - 20%.Cells in reversible phase - 40%. Cells as yet unaffected - 40% and falling. Blood Pressure : 60 over 30 in the main arterial branches; holding. Peripheral circulating volume minimal. Pulse: 20, irregular rate, normal conformation of heart rhythm. Additional coronary pacing interpolated within main cardiac rhythm to attain rate of 50. Good response. No spontaneous respirations - full respiratory arrest; breathing assisted at 12 respirations per minute. EEG: minimal activity in frontal lobes; temporal lobes over-active. Hypertonic rigidity of the limbs. Edema of right arm at 1+, left thigh at 2+..._

They feverishly raced against the effects of the Bug's venom. Unfortunately, it had quite a head start. The team worked as if demons were pursuing them all.

OOOOO

Tochiro oversaw the venom extraction process in the laboratory after the men had brought the Bug's body there. He had the computer generated program robotically remove the venom sacs; extracting the remaining venom from them and then into test tubes. Once he had completed this task, Tochiro had a medical enclosed system robot carefully take them to sickbay for more anti-venom to be made. Tochiro then flash-froze the Bug's body inside of the laboratory chamber. He did not know if anything else might be needed from its corpse, and Doc Zero might want the rare opportunity to study it, later. He had the robot move the body and stored it in a stasis freezer.

He had no idea if the Bug had relatives, or if they should even attempt to return it to them. There was little information on the species in database circulation, other than their lethal abilities and martial tendencies. They were nigh unto impossible to kill in hand-to-hand combat; hence few had ever been studied post-mortem. Since travelling to their home world was proscribed, no one was in the habit of calling on them, or even wanting to do so. He wondered how the Bug had come to be off of its home world, and why. Finishing his tasks there, he left the laboratory and headed out to sickbay.

OOOOO

The three new engineers arrived at the Arcadia with Harlock's Space Wolf. They noticed that the loading ramp was extended and no one was about. Curious, they all thought. Yasu shrugged. Well, they had completed the project and Harlock had told them to have it ready by today, so they were going to just assume that the open door was meant for them. No matter the Arcadia's rather spectacular entry and odd resting place.

Once inside the entryway, they saw the launch bay to the right of the entrance. They taxied the fighter in and parked it in one of two open spots. Once they had completed shutting it down, they got out of the fighter and disembarked.

A man stood at the entryway, with a Gravity based Glock 090 pistol in hand. "Who are you three, and why do you have the Captain's Space Wolf? Who gave you passage to enter the Arcadia?" He demanded answers of them firmly, and with a stern tone. The Glock was pointed at them in a no-nonsense manner. They took it seriously.

Wulf held out his hands to the side to show that they were open and that he was not dangerous. "We are three engineers from the Space Port and Harlock had us fix his Space Wolf canopy for him. It had gotten damaged by Diesel Jones, the bounty hunter. Harlock told us that if we fixed the canopy that he would take us on board. I am Wulf Berger, these other two are Wen Yasu, and Cagri Baldour." Each man nodded carefully as they were introduced. A sudden move now could be a very bad thing with their obviously guarded interrogator.

The man gestured them forward. He checked them briskly for armaments, and an eyebrow raised when all he found were wrenches, spanners, and screwdrivers. A few odd bolts and spare parts were also stowed in their pockets, but no actual weapons. They looked the part, but he wanted confirmation.

He herded the three men into a nicely appointed launch lounge off of the main launch bay. He gestured them to sit in the chairs with his gun. "Wait here."

Cagri lifted a hand and wet his lips, "Er, uh, is the Captain available?" He asked rather nervously. " He can vouch for us." Cagri tried to smile, but failed.

The man impassively stared at them, but somehow, Cagri got the impression that the question had unnerved the pirate. Without a word, the man left, and the door bolt clicked into place behind him.

Wen looked at the other two. "Does he actually think that that little simple lock is anything that three engineers can't figure out their way out of?"

Wulf cocked his head. "Perhaps it is a test? To see if we are what we say, or perhaps a test to see if we will do what we are told?" The three men looked at each other. Well, they were engineers. Perhaps they should figure the lock out and then just wait. They set about their tasks. It took them a combined 30 seconds. After they had the lock open they sat back down to wait. There, they thought. It should serve to show the crew that they were good engineers, and could follow orders.

OOOOO

Harley stood in the corridor outside of the room for a moment. He hit the wall Com and called up to the bridge. "Daiba, did the Captain tell anyone about three new engineers coming aboard?"

Kei and Tadashi looked at each other, shrugged to each other, and Tadashi hit the console Com button. "Not that we know of, but we haven't talked with him since yesterday. Find Tochiro and ask him. The Captain was with him when he was attacked, so he'll probably know more."

Harley grunted and tried to signal Tochiro without success. He plugged the Comp. "Where is Tochiro?" The Comp highlighted the lab area where the Bug was being processed. Ah, he thought, when Tochiro was in the lab he never answered anyone, even Harlock. He sighed and started walking in that direction. Best to get the information from the horse's mouth, he thought. And besides, the three in the launch lounge couldn't get into trouble without equipment, now could they?

OOOOO

Bob's flyer was almost to the Space Port when he noted that the Arcadia was actually billeted outside of the docking facilities. He raised an eyebrow. Even a neophyte should have been able to land on a landing pad! He wondered at the odd location. Bob veered off of the road and through the forest toward the Arcadia in the forest. The ride was a bit bumpy even with the stabilizers he had, but he was making good time, threading the flyer through the trees that he could, and avoiding those that he could not.

As he approached the Arcadia, he noted that the loading ramp was down and totally unattended. He raised another eyebrow. Very odd, that, even if someone was in trouble. He powered down and parked his flyer within walking distance. He didn't want the flyer to be too close, for if the Arcadia would leave and he was too close, the flyer would be within the gravity well of the ship and leave with it. He knew that the field extended around the Arcadia by about 500 meters. Bob had parked the flyer behind some sturdy trees and large boulders for safety's sake. No point in being careless.

OOOOO

Diesel Jones was now down to limping as he walked back to the scene of the attack. One thing was now clear to him. The Arcadia was planet side, and grounded. As he observed it from behind some trees he couldn't see anyone out and about. Nor did he see the Ciarriahqian, Harry, which did not bode well. He had not been able to raise the alien bounty hunter by Com at all; an even graver sign. He had thought that of all the alien races he knew, that Harry would have been able to withstand any attack either Harlock or Tochiro could have dreamed up. Damn! How had the pirates managed to get the drop on both of them? He sighed. Only one way to tell, and he was going to try it!

After looking around thoroughly, and seeing no one about, Diesel Jones did what no other being had ever done. He boarded the Arcadia without its Captain's permission and followed the direction of Harry's Com's GPS position inside the ship.

OOOOO

Bob grimly watched as Jones went up the Arcadia's ramp unchallenged. HE was not about to allow that bounty hunter to get at Harlock inside of his own ship, no sir!

He cautiously made his way towards the docking ramp from his angle. As he went through the trees he smelled a very acrid and distinctive odor. BUG! He smelled the ichors of Ciarriahqian venom. He went closer to the site where the odor was the strongest. He looked down beneath a large tree and noted that not only was there venom but also the smell of human blood as well. As he looked at the site, he noticed that a Cosmo Dragoon lay forgotten and alone upon the ground. Neither Tochiro nor Harlock would have ever permitted that, were they alive or conscious. He gingerly picked up the weapon and checked the serial number; it was Harlock's gun. Bob's heart sank; never would the Kid willingly permit that beloved weapon out of his sight...

He put the Dragoon in his own weapons belt and breathed a large sigh. He might as well tail the bounty hunter and keep him off of Tochiro's back, as a favor to Harlock. Bob boarded the Arcadia in a hunt for Diesel Jones with a heavy heart, for he knew that surviving Bug poison was a rare miracle, even for one as strong as Harlock. He looked around as he entered the docking bay and was surprised that no one challenged him at all. Indeed, no one was in sight. He headed down the hallway that he sensed heavy footsteps in a distance. He headed down that hallway, certain that it was Diesel Jones.

Now there were two beings aboard the Arcadia without the Master and Commander's permission, one on a mission of devious mischief, and one on an errand of determined vengeance.

OOOOO

The three Engineers had been sitting in the launch bay lounge for what seemed like quite a while to them. They looked at each other, and nervously looked at the door. No one had yet returned and they wondered if perhaps they had been forgotten.

They talked over what to do, and decided that staying in the lounge was not the right thing for them to be doing. They got up and opened the door, peering out into the corridor. They saw no one at all. Wulf, Cagri, and Wen exchanged puzzled looks. This was an odd way to be greeting new crew members, they thought. Discussing it together, they decided to head for the bridge. After all, that would be where the Captain of the Arcadia ought to be, should he not?

As they left the launch bay, Wen Yasu noticed that the loading ramp was still deployed. He went over to where the controls were surely located, studied them for a moment or two, and then punched in a sequence of codes. The ramp retracted and shut firmly. Satisfied, the three men went in search of their new Captain down a corridor that they hoped led to an elevator to get to the bridge.

OOOOO

_A grey corridor surrounded him. He was alone in the hallway. The floor was soft underfoot and yet a bit indistinct. As he walked along the long corridor, he noted that the walls appeared to sway and swirl with a thousand shades of grey - all the way from pale, almost white - to the darkest shade fading into black. He wondered at its construction. He looked behind him and saw only darkness, except for a single, shining, and silvery thread trailing behind him. Forward, it appeared to be lighter and if he squinted his eye(s) he thought he could see some light coming from a distant doorway. He walked toward it with a firm step. He wondered how he had gotten here, what this place was, and where. He had never seen it's like, of that he was certain. _

_He looked down at himself again and noticed that he was wearing a strange, divided white robe, belted with a white belt, and a golden-hilted Damascene steel sword hung from his left hip. The robe covered his shoulders, chest and upper arms, and fell to his knees. There was a design on the chest of a very large red cross, and a Deaths-Head sigil on his left shoulder, and this sigil was repeated; making up the design of the golden buckles on the belt. He wore fine gold-washed chain mail under the robe with the cowl folded down on his back. Under the mail he wore a fine gauge white linen long shirt. He also was clad in dark, tight fitting trews, and dark leather Calvary boots with his golden spurs jangling softly as he walked along the hallway. On his back was a huge broadsword in an ancient, worn leather scabbard with the hilt and grip placed within easy reach over his right shoulder. There were beautiful jewels in the hilt guard, and in the pommel was a single, large, blood red ruby. It seemed to glint from inner light. Surmounting the setting of the large ruby was another of the golden Death's-heads. He also wore a dark black cloak lined in brilliant scarlet, off of one shoulder to permit access to the huge broadsword. It trailed down his back in inky folds._

_He stopped a moment in confusion. This attire didn't seem quite right, somehow. Still puzzled, he bit his lower lip trying to remember, without success. His hands were encased in supple, yet heavy, brown leather gauntlets with a Death's-head sigil embroidered on the backs of the gloves. He took the gauntlets off and noted that on his left hand, he bore a golden wedding band on his ring finger and a signet ring bearing the same Death's-head emblem in black, gold and scarlet enamel on his forefinger. On his right hand, he bore a golden ring on his forefinger, with the embossed figure of a planet and its moon that seemed familiar, surrounded by two elliptical rings. The ring was in tones of green, gold and blue. He had no memory of why any of them should seem familiar. He put the gloves back on._

_The knight also looked down at his stomach and noted that from inside the robe, a thin, glistening strand of light came from his navel and trailed behind him from where he had come. He reached down to touch it and while he could not touch it, where it was, seemed warmer and alive. This too, was a curious thing of which he knew nothing. Shrugging his shoulders, he resumed his walk. He didn't know why he knew it, but the answers to all of his questions lay ahead of him, not behind. He continued walking._

OOOOO

Author's note:

Look up the Templar Knights. According to the Harlock histories, one of the early ancestors was a Templar, who fought at Acre and was on the last ship to leave. As they left, He hoisted the first of the family's colors, the Deaths-head Flag on the mast of the ship as he went home. I am postulating that the Templar past and the Harlock clan's future have much to do with one another. Harlock is not the first of the Pirate Knights, he is one of a long, long line of them... complete with their attendant secrets...


	5. Chapter 5

The Bauble - Chapter 5

_"Not in achievement, but in endurance, of the human soul, does it show its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite."_

_- __Edwin Hubbel Chapin_

_The knight walked down the grey hallway, his steps and spurs in counterpoint from one another; step, jingle, step, jingle. Otherwise, there was no other sound in the eerie hall. There were softly grayed walls on both sides, with a grayed floor and ceiling. The grays all swirled, lighter, darker, like smoke in a mirror. There were now pillars on either side. Tall, straight and spare, with runes on their surfaces, the pillars were spaced about twenty paces apart. He stopped to try to read the runes, but they were written in a language he did not know. He continued on. He had no count of hours, or of time at all. _

_Indeed, here, there was no such thing as time. He was not in either time or space but someplace between, or perhaps beyond them._

_As he journeyed on, he noticed doorways on either side of the hall, spaced about one thousand paces apart. They were each different and beautiful in their own way. Some were made of wood, stone, feathers, chitin, others were different types of metal, and one appeared as being made of writhing plants. He didn't know why, but that one bothered him the most. All were locked to his attempts to open them. He walked on._

_After some unknown quantity of time, or not-time, he stopped. He was thirsty. There was no water source that he could find around him, and he wondered if he was doomed to walk the hallway and perish of thirst. He coughed a dry cough_. 

_"I wish there was water, here," he thought to himself. _

_As he thought this, a table appeared in front of him. It held water in every conceivable type of container; pitchers, glasses, vials, bowls, canteens, horns, challises, and mugs. There was a lovely little waterfall coming from a large brass bowl that held several rocks, and the water sprang from between the rocks. There was no mechanism that he could see. Dew laid on rocks, and that looked oddly out of place, as much as everything else did. The table itself was a marvelously huge trestle table, carved with creatures both real and imaginary. The carver was obviously both talented and creative, he thought. _

_The table's effect was both impressive and concerning. He hadn't spoken his wish aloud._

_Cautiously, he approached the table, looked underneath of the brilliant white cloth that covered it. There was not any doorway nearby whereby it could have come from. It had simply appeared between one blink of an eye and the next. He blinked again. It was still there. _

_He cautiously took hold of a glass. He brought it up to his nose to waft the odor. It smelled like spring water from home. That stopped him for a moment. What home? He had a home? He couldn't remember a home. But this smelled like freshly bubbled brook water, or from a cool mountain spring. _

_He put the glass down and took off his gauntlets, and gently laid them on the table. He dipped a finger in the water, put his finger in his mouth and smiled, it was water; good water, and it was delicious. He downed the glass in one gulp. He put it back onto the table and grabbed several more containers, the flagon, the mug, and the odd clay cup. He drank until he was satisfied. _

_He didn't know how it had gotten there, but he remembered he ought to thank whoever or whatever, had given him the water to drink. _

_"Thank you." He said, and inclined his head in genuflection. _

_He then took up the water skin, the canteen, and the other water holding containers that would travel well. Putting them on and about his person, the Knight put on his gauntlets, walked around the table to continue on to the still, very distant light, at the end of this seemingly endless hallway. _

_Was it his imagination, or were the walls lighter than before? He walked on._

OOOOO

Diesel Jones crept to the end of the hallway he was walking in. He was careful to look ahead, walk quietly, but with boldness, so that no one would question him, did they encounter him.

He was unaware that all aboard the Arcadia were well acquainted with one another. In this, he underestimated the bond between the ships inhabitants. He did not know, nor cared to know, that this particular ship bore people who were basically one large family, working together towards a common goal set forth by their commander. It was also a higher goal than Diesel would have understood. He well understood selfishness, greed and bondage, but would never understand True Freedom.

As he walked, he was slightly bothered by the strange decor. There was plenty of duranium, and plexisteel, but also woven into this were carved wooden lintels above the doorways, wooden crown molding, and antique looking lanterns to light the hallways. The floor did not ring of metal, either, it was made of some softer, but very durable material that he could not immediately identify. All were together in a harmonious, but darker lit space. Aesthetically, it worked.

He kept on moving toward where the locator told him to go to find the Bug who was his partner.

OOOOO

The three engineers, Yasu, Berger and Beldour, were wandering in another hallway, looking for a path to the bridge. They worked their way to an elevator, awaited its arrival and boarded once it opened.

"Bridge," they all said in unison. The elevator sat there, unmoving. They looked around to see if there were any directional emblems, or other control devices. None. As they were doing this, and becoming slightly alarmed, the doors shut. Nor did they open when they went towards it. Nor would they open when they pounded on it, asking to be released. Begging wasn't working either. They looked at each other in fright.

None had any idea that that an AI also inhabited the Arcadia itself, and had watchful eyes and ears everywhere. The Arcadia had these three contained, now it needed to deal with the other two stowaways. It turned its attention to the other human, and the Octodian.

OOOOO

Bob was getting irritated. He hadn't run into a single crewmember as of yet. He had tried the nearest communication station, but all he was getting was a lot of static. He didn't understand this at all. He tried to page Harlock, and then covered his eyes with the realization that he was likely calling for someone who couldn't hear him. A short wave of grief came over him, and he leaned against the wall. No time for that, he told himself firmly. Diesel was dangerous, and he would be after any of the crew, for each was infamous in their own right. Tochiro was the next biggest prize, so Bob wanted to protect him.

"Locate Tochiro Oyama," he said firmly. The static cleared miraculously.

"Tochiro, here" said an annoyed voice. "Who is this? I'm busy."

"Bob." said the Octodian through gritted teeth.

"Bob?" asked a startled Tochiro. "How did you get on board?"

Bob huffed. "You idiots left the barn door open. All sorts of things can get in when you are that stupid. Persons like Octodians, chasing bounty hunters like Diesel."

At Tochiro's startled gasp, he asked what he needed to know, and was dreading to know.

"What has happened to Harlock? I saw blood, and his Cosmo Dragoon was outside on the ground. I feared the worst." Bob waited for Tochiro to tell what he knew.

"He's alive, but not doing as well as what I think our medical folks would like." said Tochiro somberly. "Harlock is unconscious here in sickbay and the AutoDoc, Thea, and Zero are doing their best to save him. A Bug was with Diesel, and he got Harlock in three places. They've loaded him up with anti-venom, but Harlock isn't in the clear. The Bug is dead, but we didn't see what happened to Diesel. Last I saw, he was unconscious from being hit on the head again. Stay where you are and I'll come to get you."

"Come armed," said Bob. "Diesel is somewhere here, inside of the Arcadia, and you will be in danger, too. Sound the alert, and while you are at it, bring some muscle with you. Diesel is no lightweight."

At Tochiro's affirmative, he sank against the wall; down on his haunches to wait, plaiting his six arms together around himself, head bowed in worry. The Kid had better get well. If he didn't, Bob was going to miss him a great deal, and would find a way to settle the score with that idiot, Diesel.

OOOOO

Al'deara and Ar'shenda were locked in telepathic bond with all of the other Arcadians. Al'deara held her sister's psychic "hand" as she slid further out to reach the man they were trying to bring back. Along with Ar'shenda, there was another very far out on the thread, the eerie alien, Miimee. They were all shouting together, very loudly. Ar'shenda was desperate, they were running out of time. She started bouncing the thread. Perhaps together with their mental voices, he would notice the bouncing silvery soul thread...

"HARLOCK!" They all called, clinging to his soul thread.

OOOOO

Doc Zero, Thea, and the AutoDoc didn't even pause from their work when Tochiro told them he needed to leave sickbay. They did not register that he also told them that both Bob the Octodian, Diesel the Bounty Hunter were both on board, and that they needed to lock the doors behind him. They were too deeply involved in their work to take notice of anything but the man they were working on.

Harlock's body was turning purple and black where the venom had entered him. The skin was sloughing in that area, his skin was mottled everywhere else, and his body temperature was declining rapidly. Desperately, they released tiny, little computerized nanobots loaded with minute doses of newly made anti-venom into his bloodstream. They had to do something, right now; they were losing the battle. They were determined to not lose the war. He was still alive, but the tide had not turned. Not yet. They hoped, and kept despair from their minds. They could not lose him. They would not.

OOOOO

After they calmed down a bit, the three engineers became determined to escape the elevator. They inventoried the various tools they had at their command in their various pockets. They would have to make do, but with work and determination, they should be able to get the doors open again. They talked as they worked, talking about the Captain and the marvelous Arcadia he piloted, and their hopes for a future aboard the Arcadia. This was simply another test of their ingenuity and resolve.

They began by peeling a panel loose with a screwdriver and then widened the gap with a powered pocket pry bar. Patiently, they worked at the panel, knowing that the door mechanism had to be behind this one, or the one on the other side. As screws came loose, and the panel was removed, they moaned as they discovered that the mechanism wasn't under this one. They turned to the other side.

The AI chuckled amusedly.

OOOOO

Harley met Tochiro in the hallway outside of sickbay. He had ten other strong warriors with him. They handed him both his Cosmo Dragoon, and his sheathed sword. Wordlessly they started out to meet Bob. They were grimly keeping an eye out for Diesel, as they held in their deep anger against the Bounty Hunter. Because of him, they might lose Harlock. With set jaws, they went forward to get Bob, and go hunting themselves. Tori-San screamed overhead, flying before them as scout.

OOOOO

_The hallway was endless, and he was getting tired of walking, and getting nowhere. Sleep would be good, he thought. He plodded along, the light at the end of the hallway appeared no closer to him, although the hallway was getting brighter._

_The Knight eventually came upon a doorway that was across from another doorway. Before this, no doorways had been opposite one another._

_Intrigued, he moved towards the one on his left. It was slightly ajar, which surprised him, and brilliant white light poured out of it. The door itself defied actual description. It appeared to be made of rainbow light, and the brightness of it almost hurt his eyes. That was the closest he could come to describing it. The doorway lintel was golden, as were the side posts. It was beautiful, and when he came closer to it, he felt peacefully calm. He relaxed and put a hand to the rainbow brilliance of it. _

_He turned to look at the other door. It was now also slightly ajar. The one on his right was made of polished bronze, and heavily figured with oared long boats with dragon heads, sails, and sea monsters. _

_Light shone from it, but not quite as bright as the one on his left. He also heard the sounds of laughter coming from that side. It would be good to talk to someone, he thought. He moved towards the door on the right._

_He opened the door, and stepped across the threshold that was also made of polished bronze. His foot met verdantly green grass, and a cool, gentle breeze moved his hair. He breathed in the verdant beauty that surrounded him. The sun was golden and set lower in the blue and pink sky. Beautiful lupine, daisies, and Queen Anne's Lace, dotted the hillside, while a bubbling stream met the woods in the distance. He looked over to the left, and saw rolling fields, horses, cattle, and lots of sheep. High mountains stood in the distance. _

_In the distance, up on a hill, a longhouse perched on the hill's crest. He heard the sounds of an ocean crashing in the distance beyond it. He was curious as to who lived here, and he could hear sounds of laughter from the longhouse. He started to walk towards it. He was weary, perhaps here he could rest and perhaps these folk could tell him about the hallway, and maybe someone would recognize him. He looked behind himself to see where the door was, in case he needed a hasty retreat from this place. _

_The doorway was wavering next to the stable door and he could just make it out in the ebbing light. Satisfied that he could find the doorway again, he started walking up the hill. _

OOOOO


	6. Chapter 6

The Bauble - Chapter 6

_"To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue."_

_Buddha_

_The knight climbed the hill to the very large longhouse. As he walked nearer, he noticed that the lodge had a lot of doors within its walls. And from the distance, he noted that those same doors had to be very wide. Curious, he thought. _

_Even more startling was the huge tree that the structure seemed to encompass. The Longhouse roof was very odd, it looked like it was tiled in gold, round shingles. There was another large tree, in front of what he assumed was the front door, which was also golden in appearance. It was a huge building and he wondered how far away it actually was from him._

_He walked uphill for a period of time that he could not identify, but yet felt the "day" go into "evening." He still had no recollection regarding himself, or how he had gotten into the grayed hall outside of this universe. He looked behind him and the stable still looked large to him. Obviously, distance here was also an illusion. _

_He continued his hike up the hill to the lodge before him._

OOOOO

Diesel continued down the hallways of the Arcadia, following the personal locator he had given to Harry. He travelled up a back series of laddered steps to the next level, and then up one more level. There had been an elevator nearby, but he did not use it. He was too afraid that when the door reopened, he would face Harlock's crew, and that was not his plan at all. Diesel knew that the crew of the Arcadia were each, in their own right, warriors of the first water. No, as a single hunter, he needed a more stealthy approach, and backup. He would rescue Harry, if he could, and then go after his prize.

It occurred to him that there were all manner of great monetary people prizes aboard this ship, and that he could have quite the life of ease, were he to cash in on all of them. He grinned to himself. If he could jut disable Harlock, then the others would be easier to handle, being in disarray. Cut off the head of the serpent, and the rest would flail around without his guidance, at least until they elected a new Captain. Diesel liked that thought, and it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. He was skilled at what he did, but like any other person, didn't want to work harder than what was needed.

He was now very close, the locator showed that Harry was straight ahead in the side room. Odd place for a Brig, he mused to himself. When the locator said that Harry was behind the door on the left, Diesel had a moment of unease. The door label stated simply: "LABORATORY." A smaller sign read: "Cryo-chamber." He had a now queasy feeling in his stomach; Harry might be dead. Impossible, he thought, perhaps they had put Harry in some sort of containment field to protect themselves from the Bug's poisoned digits. He was hopeful, but in the pit of his stomach, he was uneasy, he might have to do this task without the excellent backup that Harry would provide.

Diesel put his hand to the door and it smoothly slid open for him. Before him were laboratory benches with all sorts of equipment set out, much of which had obviously been recently used, and then left untended. He walked slowly through the place, ever deeper into the area. It was silent except for his footsteps. He found a cul-de-sac in the far rear of the area. To the right, was a door that said "Cryo-chamber." Since there was no other place to go, other than to the storeroom listed on the left, he put his hand to the Cryo-chamber door. It also opened smoothly to his touch. Once inside, he adjusted his eyes as the lights came up around him. His eyes fixed straight ahead to the chamber within the chamber.

"Harry!" He cried out, hoping that the reclining Bug on the table in front of him, behind the glass frame, was merely asleep.

He knew better, of course, for the rime of frost covered the alien's carapace. He placed his hands on the side wall of the glass chamber. "Harry..." His voice was saddened, for the pair had worked well together, despite their obvious species differences. His partner was now well beyond hearing Diesel's voice. He also noted that the digits on Harry's hands were shorter than usual, and he saw that the talons and the poison sacs were gone. He immediately deduced that someone had killed Harry, and that after death, someone had probably used the poison sacs to make anti-venom serum.

He raised his head, staring ahead blindly, thinking furiously. Harlock most likely had killed Harry, he reasoned. Both the Gravity Saber and Cosmo Dragoon were incredibly effective weapons, and must have pierced Harry's body chitin to have killed him. There was no way that Harry had boarded this ship on his own, without taking most of the other lives on it down with him.

The question was, why did they need to make new serum? Was it to replace what was in their stores, most unlikely as the Bugs were not indigenous to this galaxy? Or, did they need to use the serum on someone poisoned by the alien...

Harlock. He had been in a furious fight with the Ciarriahqian when Diesel had been knocked out. So, did Harry get the drop on Harlock, or vice versa? Not a single person had challenged him since coming aboard. That meant that they were in disarray, with lesser or no leadership. Ergo, Harlock was either dead himself, or badly injured in the fight.

Diesel smiled grimly. There was no way that Harlock, if poisoned by Harry's talons, would have survived without major damage. Nor would he survive at all without the anti-venom, and that was even doubtful. Harlock was equally valuable dead, or alive. The only ones who cared if Harlock lived at all, were the crew aboard this ship, and they were obviously not effective guardians without the Master and Commander of the vessel. After all, he had merely walked aboard the open ship without a single hail, and he hadn't run into a single soul since.

He was in that moment, a bit maudlin regarding Harry - they were not a plentiful species outside of their home world. The few who managed to escape were hunted down swiftly, and if possible, returned to their home world, or killed in desperate battle. The reason that Ciarriahqia was under interdict by all of the sentient races, was their poisoned, deadly talons, and highly martial nature. They had no thought in their insectoid heads regarding either peace, or co-existence. It was all or nothing with them.

The Council of Worlds had all agreed on that one thing, after the war that had ensued at the Bugs first achieving interstellar flight. Once the race had been contained, with the loss of many lives and much effort, it was found that they would not see any sort of civilized reason, they were placed under interdict, and all the races took turns ensuring that they never left their world again. That planet was closely watched, and all attempts for that species to leave their home world were met with deadly consequences for the escapees. Harry was among the very few who were at large.

He had found Harry years earlier, as a smaller, juvenile Bug, and developed a relationship with him, at first based on food, and then later, a measured trust. Diesel had seen the potential of having Harry as a partner for his chosen line of work. Having Harry was an advantage that no one else would have, or be able to effectively counter. They had built their own method for communication, as Harry had not the physical capacity to utter words. In all, they had been together over ten years.

He had not had to train Harry much, his own nature was certainly apparent as he matured. The years of flight had been a trial for both of them, as Harry was following his nature, and Diesel was trying to keep him safe. He had taught Harry to be a Bounty Hunter, and they had worked well together. He didn't advertise Harry, for that would get the Bug sent back to a home world he didn't remember. Most of the times that he brought Harry in, was for cases where the prey didn't need to be alive. Otherwise, Harry ran their ship. The arrangement had suited both of them.

He said a quiet goodbye to Harry, and idly wondered if the Bug had family on Ciarriahqia, or if family was a nonsensical concept for the peoples of that world. He wondered what they did for their dead. He shrugged. It didn't really matter, for Harry would never know if his passing would have been honored, or ignored. Right now, Diesel had other priorities, and those priorities didn't include mourning his erstwhile partner.

Diesel straightened up and then left the cryo-chamber where Harry laid in cryo. On his way out, he consulted a rather convenient open computer terminal for a map of the ship. He searched for a bit under Tochiro's open notes, and non-locked link. Amazing how trusting these pirates are, he thought. Satisfied, he left the lab area, thinking on a new target for his search.

Sickbay.

OOOOO

Mimee held the strand in her psychic hands. She held it hard and fast, as if her life depended on holding this thread until the end of time. Another beside her also held this strand, and then an amazing, crazily heroic, and surprising thing happened.

The Golden One beside her looked at her, and said to her, "Hold Fast." With that, the young goddess passed beyond Mimee to hold the strand beyond her, and steadily began walking ahead, along the path of the thread.

Mimee cried out to her, "Don't! You can only go to here. Beyond here, you will also pass beyond!"

The young woman looked back at her, smiled, and handed Mimee a second strand to hold; her own. Mimee gasped as the Golden One looked back at her, and almost lost hold of both strands in her keeping. The young woman now was golden-haired, bore white and gold wings upon her back, and wore gold-washed armor, complete with a golden winged helmet. Her countenance was blindingly bright.

She smiled sadly at Mimee. "Someone has to go to him," she said to Mimee. "He is lost, and cannot find his way back without help. This universe is a tube, and bears a center, core sphere, where we don't want for him to go. If he goes there, none can return until the Last Day. He can also get lost in the other worlds along the outer rim of the tube, and build another life there, while we need him here. It is up to me, now. Hold our lines; I will bring him back, if I can."

Mimee held the two life lines she had as if there was no one behind her. Of course, she felt the presence of the grieving Golden Ones behind her, but they also doubled their efforts to hold both the line they all held, and to hold Mimee, too, for she held one who was dear to them; their beloved sister Princess Arashenda, or as she preferred to be called, Ar'Shenda.

Mimee's normal softly golden light had surrounded her before, and now approached a white, hotter light, that bathed the walls of the room she was in. In fact, if anyone had looked in her quarters, they would have not seen anything but a white, brilliant, and searing light. Mimee was totally encompassed in the light. No one could have seen the tears flowing from her tilted, golden eyes.

OOOOO

Bob unwrapped his arms from around his person. Time to move. He had heard Diesel move down the corridor to the ladder stairs up to the next level. Bob had been wrapped in his own grief. He knew he had to give himself that series of moments to resolve some of the swirling emotions in his Octodian soul. Once he had them more firmly under control, he could move, and be effective in his plan. Tochiro was coming to him from sickbay. Diesel, was likely headed to sickbay to collect an unresisting, and possibly dead Harlock, for bounty.

Bob intended to get to sickbay before Diesel, or catch the bounty hunter in a crossfire, with Tochiro on the other side. He winced at that, for Tochiro's aim was less than accurate, but if that aim kept Diesel off balance, then Bob could make his move. He ground his teeth. He highly doubted Diesel had any idea at all of what an aroused, determined, and angry, Octodian could do. He doubted that even the Kid had any idea of it, for Bob had never shown that side of himself to Harlock.

It had frightened Bob, the one time that he had let that part of himself loose. It was the main reason he polished bar glassware, for this calmed his inner demons.

OOOOO

The three engineers finally had the right sided panel loose in the elevator, the control panel exposed, and were poised to disable the doors on the elevator, when all of the sudden, the doors opened wide. Stunned, they didn't move for a moment, and then all three of them piled out into the corridor without even a glance sideways, all but tripping over one another in their haste to leave that boxed in space. Once outside, they turned to look behind them. The doors quietly closed without a sound.

They looked at each other, then back at the doors.

"No more elevators," they all said in unison. They looked around for the nearest stairway up, and cautiously moved down the corridor. They opened doors, but stayed in the corridor while they looked in each opening for the way up to the bridge, where they assumed that the Captain would be stationed.

OOOOO

The Ship's AI was watching the progress of both the Crew, and the interlopers, of the Arcadian Territory that it guarded, and protected. It was coming together like a chess game. The AI was still "young," and thus was a bit more capricious in nature than what it's developers knew, or would be comfortable with, had they known. It knew it needed to protect itself from the others, and not play too hard of a hand, but it could certainly guide the coming confrontation.

In order to do that, the AI quietly began closing some of the blast doors within the ship, and making certain stairwells inoperable. Mice in a maze, it thought, come find the cheese.

OOOOO

Inside of Sickbay, the struggle to contain the poison in Harlock's body was coming to a head. The Nanobots were working as quickly as they were able, according to their programming, to deliver life preserving antidote to the cells of the host body. The tide was finally beginning to turn, but there was much work to do. They mindlessly, but efficiently, did their duty.

_"Reversible damage now at sixty-four percent. Irreversible damage at fifteen percent. New cell growth coming back on line within organism at a forty percent increase. Mitochondrial stasis reversing and now at eighty percent of normal. Organ function returning to kidneys and liver, up from ten percent to forty percent and climbing. Cellular waste is still sluggish in lymph system. Nanobot programming changed to compensate metabolism of dead cells. Cardiac stimulus is suspended, organism is providing own rhythm and volume displacement at eighty percent of normal capacity. Neural activity still suspended, no higher function brain waves detected. Basal, Cortical, and corpus collosum neural cells are perfusing normally. Vital Signs stabilizing ten points variance from normal baseline. Core perfusion improving by ten percent per minute." The AutoDoc droned on. _

Doc Zero and Thea took a moment to pause from their work. They heard the AutoDoc, looked at the current data, and were cheered by what they saw. The cellular death rate was declining. The good cell population was climbing. And the cells affected by the poison were being absorbed. The skin appearance hadn't changed as of yet, but it was certainly not worsening. That was encouraging. He still wasn't breathing at all on his own, but the heart rhythm was more regular, and the core body temperature was rising. It wasn't normal yet, but was showing signs of coming back to Harlock's baseline. They had done what they could, it was up to the nanobots, now.

Zero went to a desk and called the bridge.

"Kei, I think that we might have some progress here." He said.

"Kei?" He asked when he didn't hear any response.

"Yattaran?" "Harley?" "Anybody?"

"Where are they?" He said, looking at Thea with a perplexed expression on his face.

She shrugged at him. "I don't know," she said. She rubbed a tired hand across her face.

"Didn't Tochiro say something about an intruder before he left? She asked thoughtfully.

Zero cocked his head at her. "Maybe," he said.

They looked at each other.

"We're supposed to lock the door!" they both said in alarmed unison.

Thea ran to the door to lock the front of sickbay, and Zero was a step behind her.

OOOOO

Tochiro was fuming. He had been going on a straight path to get to Bob, but the ship was misbehaving. It was actively locking down areas, and locking stairways away from where he and the other pirates wanted to go. If he didn't know better, the AI appeared to be herding them all somewhere. He wished that he knew if this was a good or bad thing; right now, he didn't have a clue. And, he had been locked outside of the command structure of its matrix, so he couldn't shut it down. He swore that he could hear it laughing at him. But that had to be in his imagination.

He grimaced. After they got all of this under better control, and both Bob and Harlock safe, he was going to ensure some ground rules were set for the young AI. Early on, AI's had to be carefully monitored and taught right actions from wrong ones; just like children had need of discipline, so did the AI.

Of course, he probably shouldn't have been surprised by this maneuver, after all, look at whose brain cells he had used as a base.

Also, without the conscience of the original pattern, the AI could create much havoc, not realizing or caring that it did so. The development of its matrix still needed much refinement, and this was a very bad time for it to be choosing to exercise some independent function. If the stabilization period wasn't done right, the ship could wind up being very temperamental, immature, and childishly surly.

Tochiro sighed. Good point - it was becoming aware, bad point - timing is everything. And in this case, not so good. The AI was earlier in its maturation process than he had calculated.

OOOOO

Kei was with Yattaran, and they were attempting to get to Sickbay to see the Captain. For some very weird reason, they weren't being allowed by the ship to get there. She had tried to use the command override sequences in order to get there but, no joy. Frustrated, she hit the wall of the corridor with her fist. "Arrrgh!" She said, and then kicked the wall for good measure, twice. It didn't help, but it did make her feel better. She looked over at Alfred, to see his response to her temper tantrum.

Yattaran didn't say anything, he just pushed his glasses back up on his nose. He had felt the same way, but rather enjoyed watching her reaction. When she had kicked the wall, her entire female person jiggled, and he had to admit he had enjoyed watching that happen. Knowing to NOT let on about this enjoyment was another matter. He wisely kept his face blank. They reviewed other possibilities in their minds to circumvent the blast door issue, and travelled on.

One corridor she passed led to one of the elevators to the bridge. As she passed it by, the doors opened; she and Alfred looked at one another as they saw the dismantled panels. Someone had done that, but who - it looked like they had worked hard to escape the lift? They continued on, tracking the persons who had left the elevator.

This was getting stranger, and stranger, with each passing minute.

OOOOO

_He finally reached the lodge itself and was in awe of its grandeur. It looked like the doors of the place were wide enough, that when opened, one could move an entire army through them, all at once. Both an Eagle and a Wolf, who were both huge, guarded the main hall doors. He passed beneath them, as they were above the monstrous doorway. He wasn't at all certain what to make of the scale of the place. He knew that this was the biggest edifice he had ever laid an eye upon. He looked above him, and all about him. The place was absolutely bigger than huge, and oddly constructed. There were, he saw, golden shields making up the roof of the lodge. Spears were the rafters, and all was built on a scale he knew he had never seen._

_The knight stood in the football-field-sized foyer for a bit, feeling both smallish, and foolish for standing there, gawking at everything around him. There in front of him was the entrance to the huge hall. The sounds of laughter came from there, so he started to move towards it. He stopped dead in his tracks with the next sight._

_A beautiful blonde-haired, winged woman in golden washed armor passed him by, carrying a flagon of some sort of mead. It smelled heavenly. Come to think of it, he was also hungry. _

_The woman stopped, smiled at him, and said, " You had best hurry along, ser. The rest of the warriors are seated at the table and the feast is about to begin. You don't want to be late, the roasted boar will get cold. "_

_He looked at her, and attempted his own smile, but the attempt only gave him a half smile. He bowed his head slightly before her in acknowledgement. "I'm a Traveler, and do not know this place. Would you please guide me?" _

_She smiled again, and said, "Surely. You are obviously newly arrived Einherjar. Welcome. It can be strange to be fighting a stalwart battle in your erstwhile life, and then suddenly find yourself in Odin's Hall. You will find other doughty warriors herein, and your daily battles will hone your skills for the Final Battle." _

_Seeing his look of confusion, she continued on in her explanation. "Each day, the warriors fight one-on-one out in the courtyards. As each one perishes on the field of battle, there is, at the end of the day, but one warrior standing, still living. Then, as dusk approaches, all arise, living again, to feast in the evening in this grand hall. The next day, it begins anew, each day's skills building on the last."_

_He didn't move for a moment. This isn't quite how it should be, should it? How can one die, to live again each, and every day? He turned this odd concept around in his mind. He looked up at her, and blushed when he saw her face soften with pity. _

_"It will be aright, you will see," she said softly. "You aren't the first, nor the last who come here confused with what you see." She beckoned him to follow her. "I will set you with one who can guide you in knowing the pattern of doing things here. He will help you."_

_"Does this person have a name that I can call them by?" He asked, as he followed her lead, and keeping out of the way of her folded wings._

_"Surely," she said. "His name is Thor." She led him into the hall, and wove her way with him between the tables, to the trestle table at the front of the hall. _

_The knight couldn't even begin to count the numbers of men and women here, all bearing the signs of warriors, scars and other patterns declaring them all as those who fight, and were good at it. He marveled at the manner of their dress, some wore animal skins, some had armor, and some were in what looked like some uniform type, that bespoke military history. He scanned the area around him to see if there were any others dressed like him. He didn't see any, but that didn't mean that they might not be there in the crowd. There were just so many!_

_She finally stopped in front of him, and addressed a man at the table._

_"Thor, This ser has just now come to Valhalla, and I am presenting him to you, this anointed Knight and Protector of Worlds. He carries with him a stalwart heart, cunning skill with the blade, and is a skilled Leader of Men." _

_She bowed to the very large man with blonde hair, beard, and great mustaches, who looked over the Knight from head to toe. The knight straightened his spine and met the gaze of the other. The large man called Thor, started to grin, and then leapt up from the table and came down off of the dais, clapping the Knight on the back._

_"Welcome, then, ser. Come, sit up here on the high table with me, and feast on the best Boar meat, like a true man! We will talk of important things like battle, and how you can help us draw strength for our daily exercises. The Valkyries never lie, so you must be a doughty warrior indeed, with that introduction." _

_The god Thor led the Knight up to the table to sit on the trestle bench with him. Within minutes, they were talking and laughing together as if they had known each other all of their lives. Farther up on the same table, a large man with a flowing white beard, and who also wore an eye patch over one eye, looked at the Knight and smiled. He hadn't realized that the time had come for this Knight in particular to come. Very well, he'd test his mettle in the morning. _

_OOOOO_

_Ar'Shenda followed the strand that lay on the hallway floor before her. She was able to move more swiftly than what the Knight had been able to do. Wings and urgency gave her speed, and she had to admit that flying was fun. It had been a very long time since she had had the pleasure of flight. She took a moment or two to get accustomed to moving with her wings, but then she had shot ahead in a streak of light. _

_Had she known it, she was a glorious sight to behold. Her countenance was white light, her wings flashed golden and white, sparkling in the lower lit hallway, with her long golden hair streaming out behind her. She followed the gleaming strand on the floor, and barely noticed the pillars, or the closed and locked doorways, until she came upon the two across from one another. _

_She landed there, softly upon the floor. She saw the beauty of the door on the left, its rainbow brilliance calling her. She started towards it, and then shook her head. It was not time for her to go there, no matter how sweetly it was calling her. She turned her attention to the door on the right. She smiled as she saw the thread she was following pass under the door. The door was slightly ajar, and she walked over to it, opened the door fully, and stepped onto the threshold of a world she knew well. _

_Home, but not Home._

_Now, to go and rescue a wandering Pirate Knight, she thought._

OOOOO


End file.
